Post Election, Perfect Timing

Post-Election, Perfect Timing

Commentary by Dr. Andrea Best

My heart is full of hope and I am so encouraged, after our interview of Dr. Bandy Lee. Dr. Denise and I had the honor of speaking with her at this time in the world, when her level of understanding, advocacy, and enlightened boldness are most needed. We do not often have the privilege of speaking with colleagues at this enlightened and scientific level about:  politics, sociopathy, healthcare, psychiatry, diagnosis of mental illness, and the dangerousness of the outgoing leadership/mindset of its following. I lost track of time, I was so engrossed in the discussion of her work with sociopaths, prisoners— to her social justice advocacy work as President of the World Mental Health Coalition. I encourage everyone to listen to this podcast, the previous one with Dr Lee and Dr Denise, and the powerful livestream of the World Mental Health Coalition’s recent Emergency Interdisciplinary Conference.

Today, we discussed that conference, ongoing solutions to heal individuals and society, and people/organizations committed to doing exactly this. I look forward to our future discussions and reading her second book, Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul, as well. My hope is that people will be encouraged by her example of speaking up and advocating for justice, especially those in healthcare. That all people will understand, at a higher level, what actually is  moving through this country, the health consequences and outright dangerousness of it. We need to move in the space of hope, love and unity.

Despite the darkness that I see and read about daily in the news, I am choosing to be hopeful, Hopeful In Action. I am choosing to speak up. I am choosing to work with leaders like Dr. Denise and Dr. Lee (and any genuinely interested in rooting out injustice) in order that integrity is restored in all levels of governmental leadership in this country, and in the leadership of American healthcare. Attempts to silence physicians, to encourage more passivity and to incite fear will ultimately fail. Why? Because even if physicians do not recall or honor their Duty, i.e. the Hippocratic oath, or the expanded version, the 1948 Declaration of Geneva, they, like all people, will feel discord. This discord… The very personal, negative physiological and psychological health consequences of being an active participant in creating injustice— or passively, quietly allowing injustice. With such, The Soul will not be at peace.  It can heal, however. There are steps to alchemize, to think, feel, and do better. We all have a voice and we are more powerful than we believe. I am thankful for Dr Lee’s body of work and activism. I am thankful there are solutions and people (many more than earlier believed) who are intelligently and boldly moving to implement them, to effect change.