With A Rise In Mental Health - Is It Time To Think Differently?
- Feb 11, 2022
- 6 min read
Written by: Marcus Matthews, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Let’s face it, you need to have been living on Mars not to be aware of the global crisis around mental health.
The World Health Organisation reported that in 2020, just 51% of WHO’s 194 Member States reported that their mental health policy or plan was in line with international and regional human rights instruments, way short of the 80% target, only 52% of countries met the target relating to mental health promotion and prevention programmes, also well below the 80% target.
The only 2020 target met was a reduction in the rate of suicide by 10%, but even then, only 35 countries said they had a stand-alone prevention strategy, policy or plan.
Of those countries doing the work, they are still not impacting this real issue – Why?
Even if you take the human impact out of this and relate that to the economy, it isn’t really surprising we are in a bit of a mess.
We need to change the environment in our minds to understand the truth about Anxiety, PTSD and Suicide.
As a former police officer I have seen both sides of the coin and in 2018 after being assaulted in 2016 I broke, the effects of PTSD were outed and I joined the statistics, furthermore, going against the odds I bounced back and the reaction to that was to try to silence my statistic breaking realisation.
The truth is our understanding of mental health is broken. How do I know?
I have lived it and fixed it.
My name is Marcus Matthews, award-winning therapist and coach and I have always had a sense of service, but at a time when I needed help, I was failed, I wanted to know why I felt the way I did, but instead I was put into a system that didn’t help me, it just ticked a box.
How many of you can relate to that?
Who do you know who is suffering and more importantly who do you know who you don’t know is suffering?
I hid it for years, I didn’t want to cope and manage, I wanted to know why I couldn’t feel free.
Why was I working so hard but achieving so little
Why was I a failure?
I now know how powerful why is.
“Why is the root cause”
Why is the feeling you attach to the stories you tell yourself every day.
Did you know your life is pretty much mapped and fixed by the time you are eight years old, 80% of who you are is programmed into you by others. It’s time to upgrade.
That programming is automatic, locked away in the vault of your subconscious and unconscious mind.
How can you fix something you are not even aware of?
We treat people based on what they know, not what they don’t know. The trauma or moment we realise we are not feeling great is not the foundation, that feeling was born much earlier.
I made a promise, after finding the method to break free of anxiety and battled the storms of PTSD, to help those who wanted to find a different way to gain access to it. I lifted the clouds and so have many of my clients and so can you.
The fact is Anxiety, PTSD and suicidal thoughts are programmed into us as bad, when the very opposite is the truth.
My realisation was that although I had been programmed to believe who I was, I also had the power to change that.
I literally had all the answers to every question, the key is knowing how to unlock the code.
If you breakdown any experience good or bad it is simply this:
The Story – What you tell yourself (Logic) normally based on other people’s opinions The Feeling – The How to the story, the inner child (Limbic Brain) Reptilian Brain – The Why (the support system, the foundation) You can map this to the brain
Once we drop into our reptilian brain we lose communication, we literally become a caveman or woman.
In Napolean Hills book Think and Grow Rich he describes the story of a man who bought a gold mine and gave up, only to be “Three Feet from Gold” which relates to the premise of turning your obstacles into opportunities.
We can’t find the Why, the Gold to the answer because we are digging in the wrong place.
Anxiety and PTSD are the opportunities we ignore to make long-lasting changes in our lives and medics help us cover that opportunity up.
If the Neocortex is the What and the Limbic Brain is the How, then the Reptilian Brain is the Why.
A massive fan of Simon Sinek and his Start with Why, I made this connection through his Circle of Trust.
In this Sinek explains that we know what we do, we know how we do it, but we don’t know why?
This is Anxiety and PTSD, this was my story. Logically this makes no sense, but we ask the question ‒
Why do I feel this way?
“Anxiety, PTSD, worry, stress are the signals from our soul and spirit asking Why?”
But it doesn’t understand logic, it just understands what you tell it, so if you say “I have Anxiety” guess what you have?
However we have a safety system which queries our mind, call it our soul or spirit and when our mind, soul, spirit and body are not congruent, we feel this as a negative emotion.
One of the biggest challenges people face is trusting faith over fear, the biggest challenge is to making the unfamiliar familiar.
“Why aren’t we making an impact on mental health”?
When you dig deep into our religious stories you can see the answers are there, but we have been taught to look outward, God, creator, the universe are not outside us, they are us.
They speak through us, yet we fail to listen, because our faith has been hijacked and used against us and it’s time to claim your power back.
When we create environments in our mind based on our truth, not other people’s truth.
When we gain access to that vault and understand why we feel the way we do.
When we stop believing that talking is the answer and we understand that trauma doesn’t understand logic.
When we put ego’s aside and work collaboratively across mainstream medicine and alternative approaches we will find the why.
Having been in that valley and climbed out the other side I know my Why, I have found the place to dig to find the riches of freedom.
I believe everyone should live a fulfilled and happy life and when you find the root cause to those painful feelings you connect to the destructive stories you tell yourself every day, you start to create an environment within that can truly set you free and that journey will expand like a ripple across humanity.
When you understand how powerful you are and that the love you will receive from the process of owning your pain, you will have no option than to become a truly energetic human, who can go on to create more ripples, until fear is drowned out.
How can people start that journey?
Who do you know who needs to find freedom?
I am looking to help people like you. People who don’t want to be victims, they just want to know why they feel the way they do and I would love you to get in touch to find out more.
My name is Marcus Matthews Clinical Hypnotherapist and Transformation Coach and my why is to empower you to change your life so you can help change the world.
Marcus Matthews, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Marcus Matthews, is a Transformation Coach who's mission is to disrupt our relationship with words like Anxiety, PTSD, Suicide and show the world that all these experiences are gifts we have misunderstood.
Using Hypnotherapy and Cognitive coaching to help upgrade people to fulfil their true purpose and step into their authentic power Marcus truly believes the universe has our backs and his approach shows people possibility once more.
A former police officer and soldier Marcus found his true calling by working with the amazing Marisa Peer after being on the verge of suicide and as well as running his own business Marcus now helps Marisa and the More Than Enough Team shape the lives of others as one of Marisa' trainers.
Marcus has worked with other Mindvalley greats like Lisa Nichols and Regan Hillyer and like them wants to help change the world to be a better place one step at a time.
As an author, speaker, podcaster and trainer Marcus' diverse background from Soldier, Police Officer and Leader allows him to connect with real people to help them set themselves free.
He believes everyone should live a fulfilled and happy life and when you remove the destructive feelings from the toxic stories you tell yourself everyday, you can step into your own version of possibility. easily and effortlessly so you can make your life count.
