Anxiety - Short Bites. Podcast #4 - Yannick Jacob on the dizziness of freedom

Name: Anxiety - Short Bites. Podcast #4 - Yannick Jacob on the dizziness of freedom
Uploaded: 2020-01-06T20:01:52+00:00
Duration: 2 min 5 s
Channel: Virginie Glaenzer
Description: In this monologue, the speaker outlines a nuanced view of mental health that positions conditions on a spectrum ranging from clinically diagnosable…

6 Jan 2020 · 2 min

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2:05

In this monologue, the speaker outlines a nuanced view of mental health that positions conditions on a spectrum ranging from clinically diagnosable disorders that may require medication to situations where individuals can take pragmatic responsibility for their lives. He argues that true freedom inherently carries responsibility, yet modern culture often seeks freedom without embracing the accompanying accountability. While acknowledging that severe depression can impede positive thinking and basic self‑care, he emphasizes that most people can cultivate courage to confront fear of failure, embrace anxiety as a natural part of the human experience, and act despite discomfort. Medication is presented as a tool that can help some reach a functional baseline, after which personal responsibility becomes the primary driver of change.

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I think first of all, it's important to, for me at least, there is something like, there's a spectrum where there is a disorder. There's something, there can be something wrong with our brains and we might need to fix it. You know, there is a certain bell curve. Yes, it's a bit more complex, but I think some people, they benefit massively from medication. Just to get into a state where they can do some of these more pragmatic things. And for me, a lot of those things are about taking responsibility for where your life is going and how your life is working out. I think there's a trend to push responsibility away. We like to have freedom, but with freedom inherently comes responsibility. We cannot have one without the other. But we like to be super free but not push away responsibility for our actions and particularly important, lack of action. So it's like often people then is like, oh, but you can't blame the victims because sometimes we can't, we're in a state where we can't just form a positive thought. You know, somebody who's, let's call it clinically depressed, often they just can't form a positive thought about the future or go out into the woods and take a walk or get into some mindfulness meditation. But beyond that spectrum, where something might actually be wrong, you know, where we might need some medication. I think there's a huge spectrum where we can take responsibility and we can very pragmatically have the courage to open our eyes and face what we do and what we don't do and then take responsibility. It's something that can be taken in most cases and say, I'm responsible for doing something or not doing something. For being courageous enough to go out there and fear, take the fear of failure and do something and fail again and have the anxiety and perhaps learn to embrace the anxiety, but in any way feel it as a part of this human experience. You know, and so I think a lot of that is about responsibility and how we're either avoiding it or facing it.