(12/2022) Please bear with me as I am going to discuss a range of topics related to health, scientific research, the medical industry, and common sense.

My biases will be showing. I believe our health care industry is not the only way or the best way to provide medical care. It is only one way, helpful and not helpful at the same time. I will get to this last point later in the article.

Last month I attended an online video conference call with a group of new and long-time friends, men ranging in age between 51 and 75. The call was set up as a "check in;" a call for mutual support in yet another "topsy turvy" year on the personal, local, state, national, and international levels.

Of the seven attendees, there were five acupuncturists (two of whom were teachers of mine), one geologist, and a guy who fixes appliances (God bless him).

Two common subjects of concern arose. 1) Where are we headed as a nation and 2) what the "h-e-double-hockey sticks" is wrong with Russia’s leadership and its effect on global relations, i.e. the mental health of the world.

The general tone of the conversation was sadness and real doubt for the future of our country and planet.

The "clouds of grey" that loomed over our group’s time together reflect the general mood of many people I have met. These "clouds" also reflect media reports around the world across the political spectrum. It seems many of the now 8 billion citizens of planet Earth have more to be concerned about than ever.

In late September 2022, a number of news outlets published articles about a health panel recommendation that all adults under the age of 65 be screened for anxiety.

Using 2020 census statistics, the health panel is recommending that roughly 214, 321,586 adult Americans be screened/tested for anxiety. (It might be a good time to start an "Anxiety Screening/Testing" company if you ask me, just sayin’.)

In October 2022, this same health panel published a recommendation for screening anxiety in children and adolescents aged 8 to 18 years.That is roughly 50 million humans. (I am serious about starting that testing company.)

What is this health panel? They are The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force or USPSTF.

According to the USPSTF website, www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org (I guess the acronym was already being used for another website), they are "an independent, volunteer panel of national experts in disease prevention and evidence-based medicine. The Task Force works to improve the health of people nationwide by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services."

I’d like to restate, this is an independent organization, unaffiliated with any U.S. Government organization. I would also like to point out the members are volunteers.

While independent, the USPSTF works in partnership with professional organizations such as the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association to name but a few.

The USPSTF also has relationships with federal organizations such as the Center for Disease Control, the National Institutes for Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and a host of others.

I add the above distinctions to qualify their statement as an "independent" organization. Administratively, they may be separate. In truth, they are intimately woven together with all aspects of the US modern healthcare system, including the insurance industries who, as you may be aware, have a heavy hand in how healthcare is administered in this country.

Where to begin?

I’ll start with Spiderman. "With great power, comes great responsibility."

The initials, U.S., carry great weight. The use of them in the title of this organization bears a strong resemblance to a group that represents our country, an authority, if you will. They are self described experts in their fields. The members represent the best our healthcare system has to offer.

All this points to a certain gravitas. Basically, when the USPSTF speaks, we should listen. (Right? Maybe. Perhaps their very speaking is contributing to the very anxiety they want to test for. Nothing calms me more than a test or a visit to the doctor’s office.)

This is all well and good, however, the entire Western medical model is only one way of looking at health. Actually, they spend most of their time looking at disease, at the symptoms. Speaking of which, what is "Anxiety?"

When people talk about their anxiety to me, they say it as if I know what they are talking about, as if there is only one type of anxiety. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts, I experience the signs and symptoms below for different reasons than you do.

The Mayo Clinic lists these anxiety signs and symptoms: Feeling nervous, restless or tense; having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom; having an increased heart rate; breathing rapidly (hyperventilation); sweating; trembling; feeling weak or tired; trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry; having trouble sleeping; Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems; Having difficulty controlling worry; having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety.

There are many reasons we may respond to life with the above signs and symptoms. These responses, generally speaking, are perfectly natural and reasonable.

All the above signs and symptoms can have an association with our emotions. Anxiety is not an emotion unto itself. Let me repeat that: ANXIETY IS NOT AN EMOTION. Anxiety is an imprecise word used to describe a variety of responses to different emotions.

The proposed recommendations to test approximately 265,000,000 million Americans for an ill-defined health concern is, to my mind, grossly mis-directed. It is an ineffective and very costly idea which will only produce more anxiety (Yes, I said it.)

So, Mr. Smarty Pants, how do we deal with this apparent epidemic of imbalanced emotions?

I believe the primary thing which will help is to not "medicalize" or "pathologize" human behavior to the degree that we do. There are a lot of serious concerns in today’s world and, rightly, people are not comfortable.

The first step is to better understand that emotions are a response to life. Second, is to understand not all seemingly "extreme" or strong emotions are inappropriate. We experience horrible things from time to time. Emotional responses to life are a way of processing, of making sense of what we experience. And since we are all different, we will have different ways of understanding what has happened. It is also helpful to understand we will have different timelines of processing and understanding because there is no "timeline." It takes the time it takes.

Third, there are different causes of "anxiety." When we understand there are specific emotional root causes of the signs and symptoms, we can be more specific in how to help. If someone is fearful, we can understand their fear. If someone is worried, we can understand their worry. If someone is sad, we can understand their sadness.

My concern about the proposed testing is "what are we testing for?" How will we help the people who truly need help? There is no "one easy answer." And certainly, I don’t believe medicating over half the population of our country is the answer.

The healthiest choice is to decrease the causes of the fears, worries, and sadness. Is it the easiest, no. Is it possible? I want to believe it is. In this season of miracles, isn’t it time to remember how to truly take care of each other.

I heard a story about Saint Teresa, when she was simply Sister Teresa. She was asked, "How do you perform miracles?" Her answer was, "I don’t. I simply perform acts of kindness everyday."

I tried finding this quote online and couldn’t. Does it matter if she said it or not? What a different world we would live in if we focused on being kind with each other.

Jefferson Breland is a board-certified acupuncturists licensed in Pennsylvania and Maryland with offices in Gettysburg and Towson, respectively.
He can be reached at 410-336-5876.

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