Chronic Illness Q&A with Dr. B.

This question & answer column is for people living with chronic health challenges and their family caregivers, who want to learn to increase the odds of improving their health by learning to live with mastery & wellbeing.

I invite you to post your questions in the comments box below. When I get a certain number of related questions, I pick one that covers them all and I answer that one. I post to this blog three times per week. Monday posts are relevant published articles. Wednesday posts are interviews—mostly video. Friday posts consist of questions about living better with chronic health challenges, and my answers to them.

Here is today’s question:

QUESTION: Would you say more about the connection between behaviors and well-being?

ANSWER: Many people believe that well-being or the sense that life is good can be achieved with antidepressants. Although antidepressants can reduce suffering somewhat for a subset of people on them, real well-being or deep satisfaction with life cannot come from drugs. People who are truly satisfied with the richness of their lives tend to live in accordance with what they most value. If you want to enhance the richness of your life, start by identifying what you most value in your life; is it family, gardening, helping others? Learn to automatically gravitate to behaviors that add the greatest aliveness to your life. What activities make you excited to get out of bed each morning? Schedule more of those into your weekly or even daily schedule.

This website is offered as a free public service, supplying information that has been found helpful to certain people living with chronic health challenges. No treatment is offered on this website. The advice is general, and may or may not apply to your individual situation, and is not a substitute for psychotherapy or medical treatment.

What questions do you have about how to live better with chronic health challenges that are related to the relationship between states of mind and health? Just scroll down and type your question in the comment box. I will post a reply to your comment, but your question may not appear in this column.