Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
The Healthy Wealthy and Wise Podcast, with Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD is a monthly podcast that focuses on personal growth and development by exploring a range of topics related to mental and physical health, personal wealth, leadership, and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Choctaw draws on his 75yrs experience and 50 plus years of surgical practice since graduating from Yale University School of Medicine.
Each month, we strive to provide our listeners with mental, physical, and spiritual strength by giving actionable advice, tips, guidance, and information to help them achieve their own personal, professional, and spiritual goals. We consider the health of the mind, body, and spirit paramount as a single unit that provides a cumulative strength greater than the individual parts, to strengthen the whole person.
We appreciate the natural differences in need between men, women, adults, and children. We recognize that the power to be happy is within each of us and under our control. We embrace technology and identify how it is applicable to our daily success. We address the entire human experiences from generation z to the baby boomers.
We’re passionate about the total person, and helping our listeners build and lead a full, well-rounded and happy life. So, tune in every month for an inspiring, encouraging, and informative podcast!
Healthy Wealthy & Wise Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD
From Darkness to Light: A Journey through Mental Health
Are you ready to unlock the mysteries of your mind? Dr. William Choctaw, our esteemed guest in this episode, guides us through a deep understanding of our complex brain and mind. He skillfully differentiates between mental health issues and mental health illness, shedding light on the critical need for compassion when dealing with mental health illnesses. With an insightful look at the role of hormones in shaping our feelings, this conversation is both illuminating and thought-provoking.
Hang on tight as we venture further into our exploration of mental health. Dr. Choctaw shares his profound knowledge on the transformative power of positive thinking, and how it can dramatically impact our mental state. Learn how to foster a healthy lifestyle, develop habits that can change your life, manage stress effectively, and recognize signs of depression. This compelling discourse affirms that mental health is a journey - one that can be navigated successfully with the right tools and knowledge. Listen in and empower yourself to steer control of your mental health journey. Join us on the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Podcast for an episode that will leave you inspired and informed!
Healthcare Quality Leadership Education Group
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The Host, Dr. William Choctaw; MD, JD, is a healthcare leadership expert, possessing a Medical Doctorate from the Yale University School of Medicine, and a Jurist Doctorate from Western University. Over a span of 50 years practicing medicine, he has served as Chief of Staff, Chief of Surgery, and as a member of the medical executive committee at Citrus Valley Medical Center over a 10 year period. Also, while practicing at Citrus Valley Medical Center, he served as Chief Transformation Officer, (developed a Robust Process Improvement/Lean Six Sigma program). Dr. Choctaw lectures nationally and internationally on medical leadership issues for hospital staffs, executives, and managers. He served as a Physician Surveyor on the Joint Commission. He's the author of 2 books, "Medical Malpractice: A Physician's Guide to the Law" and "Transforming the Patient Experience: A New Paradigm for Hospital and Physician Leadership, published by the Springer Publishing Co. He’s the President of Choctaw Medical Group, Inc., a clinical practice and medical legal consulting firm for medical staff executives, physician leaders, and hospitals.
Welcome to the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr William Chokta, mdjd. Our mission is to empower you with the knowledge and the tools you need to thrive in all aspects of your life. Join us now as we discuss everything from nutrition and exercise to money management and personal growth. Dr Chokta will provide insightful advice on how to improve your physical and financial health, as well as your emotional and mental well-being. Whether you're looking to boost your energy levels unlike financial freedom or cultivate a more positive mindset, we've got you covered. Get ready to become the best version of yourself? So let's get started. Here's Dr William Chokta, mdjd.
Speaker 2:Good morning. Today, we're going to talk about mental health issues. Welcome to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise Podcast. This is part of our Leadership Masterclass series, and our intent is to provide you with information that can make your life better. I always like to start off with my beliefs. I believe life is about being of service to others. I believe knowledge is power. I believe leaders can change the world. As always, we always like to give you an outline, and the outline is we're going to start off with an anatomy of the brain and the mind. We're going to talk about mental health issues as compared to mental health illness, we're going to talk about symptoms and signs of mental health, and then we'll answer questions that you might have.
Speaker 2:Well, the brain is a very complex organ in the body. Indeed, it's one of the areas that we, as physicians, still do not completely understand. But if we were to take a look at the brain, it's divided into multiple areas, and if we were to do a sagittal cut of the brain, we would note that in the frontal part is what's called the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is for thinking, memory and movement and behavior. Next to that is the parietal lobe, and that's speech and language, in the occipital lobe, which is for sight, the cerebrum, which is for balance and coordination, and below that is the brainstem. What is unique about the brainstem is that, regardless of whether we are conscious or not, the brainstem functions and allows us to breathe and allows our hearts to continue to beat and it helps to regulate the temperature in our body, even though we're not conscious. And there's a more medial lobe called the temporal lobe, and we'll talk about that a bit later. The second issue that comes up about the brain is where is the mind M-I-N-D? Is it located in the brain? Is it somewhere else? To be honest with you, we don't really know, but the belief is that it's probably in the brain, probably located somewhere in the frontal lobe, depending on your philosophical position. What's important is that, as we look at the undersurface of the brain, that's a very unique section or part of the brain, if you will, called the amygdala, the amygdala A-M-Y-G-D-A-L-A, the amygdala. And one of the reasons why the amygdala is so important is that it is considered to be the emotional center of the brain. Some call it the happiness center of the brain, and we'll get to that a bit later.
Speaker 2:But let me parenthetically say that when we talk about mental health issues. You notice I say I use the term issue and not illness or disease, because we may all have some mental health issue, but we obviously do not all have mental health disease or illness. Issues can be anything related to how we think and how we feel and how we behave. For instance, basic fear and anxiety can be an issue. One may be afraid of heights as an issue, but as long as that does not interfere with your normal activity in life, then that's not considered an illness for you, and so it's important that we consider how we function and that we differentiate between mental health illness and mental health issues. And when we talk about mental health illness, it's important to understand that mental health illness is nothing to be ashamed of. It is basically a medical problem, just like heart disease or liver disease or kidney disease or any other type of malady that may affect the body. And one of the things that it interferes with our ability to care for patients who have actual mental health illnesses is that we tend not to understand the illness itself or the problem itself, and that makes us many times not care for these patients as quickly and as thoroughly as we should.
Speaker 2:So when we go back to the amygdala, the amygdala, again, is a part of the brain that's located in the area of the hippocampus, and some even call it the happiness of the reward center. It is the part of the brain that affects how we feel. Let me say that again, the amygdala is the part of the brain that affects how we feel, and those feelings are controlled by hormones that have an impact on this particular part of the brain that can result in a whether we're happy or whether we're sad, and one of those hormones is dopamine, and another one of those hormones is serotonin. And so, indeed, one of the ways that various types of illnesses that involve the brain, ie mental illness like depression and others, are treated is with medications that manipulate or change the impact of a number of these hormones that occur in the brain. So if one were to have a high dopamine level dopamine one of the hormones in the brain one would be happy, motivated, alert, focused. Likewise, if, if the dopamine level is low, those patients tend to be tired, unmotivated, unhappy, mood swings, sleep problems and difficulty concentrating.
Speaker 2:It's really important to understand that much of how we interpret how we feel really depends on who we are and what our backgrounds are. Even more specifically, as a book once said some time ago, men really are from Mars and women really are from Venus, meaning that even though we're both human, but because of the various types of sex hormones in our body, we may interpret or relate differently in terms of our moods and in terms of how we feel. Likewise, when we look at children who may have mental health issues, children many times are not little adults and we should not consider them little adults. So mental illness in children is a very unique area of specialty that should be treated by child psychologists and child psychiatrists. Let me also, parenthetically, say that I think it's very important that we keep in mind again that boys and girls are different in terms of how they act and in terms of their behavior. This has to do with their particular age and their particular area of development. But I think it's important to be very cautious about how we attribute certain things to children, particularly as it relates to mental type issues.
Speaker 2:I personally think that the phrase or the definition or the term attention deficit, hyperactive disease or ADHD is overused in children. I think many times it'll be a situation where in a maybe elementary class or maybe in preschool or even beyond preschool, elementary class, or in high school or junior high class. One group of students may be very quiet and very attentive. Another group of students may be very interactive and not very attentive. It's not uncommon. Many times that boys in my experience have been, I think, unfairly classified as having ADHD or some type of behavioral disorder, when they're actually just boys and when you compare them with girls, there's obviously a difference. My point is be very, very careful and have a health care professional evaluate them and decide whether indeed there is a mental type of issue and certainly anything that might require treatment, like Ritalin and other types of medication that are frequently used with children. My point is just be very cautious in terms of what you do. One of the great things about health care and mental health issues is that there is medication that's available for treatment. For many, many years there was not very, very good medication with minimal side effects. That is no longer the case. I would encourage you, if there's a suggestion in yourself or maybe a family member, that you seek out a health care professional, psychologists or psychiatrists to assist with that problem.
Speaker 2:Let me just say a word about a particular type of mental health illness. Now. This is not a mental health situation but an actual illness. Let's take a look at the illness called depression. Depression is very, very serious and very, very unique.
Speaker 2:Usually, these patients have what I call the hopeless, helpless, worthless syndrome. They feel things are bad for them and that there's no hope that they will get better. They feel the things are bad for them and no one can help them make things get better, and some even get to the point where they feel that things are bad for them and they actually deserve it. My point is that if you see someone, or you know someone, or yourself have any of those thoughts, particularly if they begin to migrate toward self-harm and even the thought of suicide, immediately seek help so that individuals can get the appropriate treatment. You would be amazed at how common the thought about self-harm and suicide is. So, even if individuals appear to be joking, I would encourage you to go to the free hotlines that are available and to make sure those individuals get proper treatment.
Speaker 2:So, in summary, we talked about mental illness as a medical problem. Like heart disease, mental illness is treated with medication that regulates many times dopamine and serotonin hormone levels. Men and women are fundamentally different in terms of how they act when they may have mental abnormalities. And the children are very, very unique, and all of these maladies should be treated by healthcare professionals. So, in conclusion, thank you very much for spending a very valuable time with us. We will continue to provide interesting topics about healthcare and others as the time moves on. Have a wonderful day.
Speaker 1:And thanks for listening to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William Choctaw, mdjd. We hope you enjoyed this episode. In fact, if you found this episode helpful, you can support and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform with the keywords Dr William Choctaw, and you'll find it very quickly. Also, subscribing helps ensure that you don't miss any future episodes. And then take the next step of action and share it with your family, friends and or your co-workers. They'll be glad you did so. Until the next time, live your best possible life the best possible way. You've been listening to the Healthy, wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr William Choctaw, mdjd.
