Only rednecks are fine
As MindUnleashed writes:
“Are we getting crazier? Is it becoming increasingly difficult to stay mentally healthy? The DSM-IV authors say this is because they are now better able to diagnose such diseases. Critics say the reason is that they have too much free time.
Among the new mental disorders defined by DSM-IV , include arrogance, narcissism, above-average creativity, cynicism and antisocial behavior. In the past these were called "character traits", but now they are diseases. And there are treatments available.”
“Society is like meat soup. If you don’t stir it periodically, scale will float to the surface.”
Edward Abbey ( Edward Abbey ) about what happens when no one ever stirs anything
There is an obvious danger associated with such vague definitions, such as those used to describe the supposed disease ODD. A terrible example occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. In a speech in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev made the following remark:
“Can there be mental illnesses, mental disorders in a communist society in individual people? Apparently they can. This means that there may be actions that are characteristic of a mentally abnormal person. This would also be confirmation that we have people now who are fighting against communism and our ideas and whose mental state is not normal.”
Obviously, doubting the best socio-economic system ever created must have been considered a sign of insanity, and after Khrushchev's speech, Soviet psychiatrists immediately went to work identifying and institutionalizing all mentally ill "communism deniers."
The road to what followed was already paved in 1951, when at a joint meeting of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences and the Council of the All-Union Society of Neurologists and Psychiatrists, several leading neurologists and psychiatrists were accused of “anti-Marxist and reactionary” deviation from the doctrine Pavlova (Pavlov) . The meeting was held by order Stalin (Stalin) in order to “free Soviet psychiatry from Western influences.”
The psychiatrist who wrote the problem report associated with this purge was AndreySnezhnevsky) , who invented (uh, discovered) a new mental illness, which he called “sluggish schizophrenia.” After Khrushchev's speech in 1959, the term came into widespread use, and the disease was diagnosed throughout the Eastern Bloc. The symptoms of the supposed “disorder” were such that even the slightest change in behavior pattern could subsequently be interpreted as a sign of insanity. Political dissent, for example, was considered a symptom “sluggish schizophrenia with mania for perestroika.”
Snezhnevsky personally signed decisions declaring several prominent dissidents insane - they also included a neurophysiologist Vladimir Bukovsky (VladimirBukovsky) , who was the first to expose and criticize the abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union and spent a total of 12 years in prison, forced labor camps and locked up in mental hospitals for his activities.
Snezhnevsky's theories became the only acceptable ones in Soviet psychiatry, and, obviously, challenging them was quite dangerous. Ironically, in 1970, the year before Vladimir Bukovsky managed to smuggle out 150 pages documenting how dissidents were silenced through psychiatry in the Soviet Union, the American Psychiatric Association named Snezhnevsky "honored member of society" for his "outstanding contribution to psychiatry and related sciences" at its annual meeting in San Francisco.
Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky, hero of socialist labor, winner of two Orders of Lenin, as well as four Orders of the Red Star and the USSR State Prize.
Photo source:tapemark. people. ru
Money and the invention of new categories of disease
The main problem with psychiatry and psychology is that they are, for the most part, thymological, as opposed to the natural sciences. If you break your arm and visit 10 different doctors, you will get the same diagnosis from each of them - they will all tell you that your arm is broken. To deal with a broken arm, there is a standardized treatment.
Make a list of the psychological problems you are experiencing and visit 10 different psychiatrists, and chances are very good that you will receive 10 different diagnoses, coupled with 10 different offers of treatment (including prescriptions for very powerful psychotropic drugs). Truly serious mental disorders may be related to some degree to chemical imbalances in the brain (there is no conclusive evidence for this), but in general there is little that can be objectively “measured.” The psychologist or psychiatrist must rely essentially on the same ability that also characterizes the work of the historian - that is, that Mises (Mises) calls it "understanding". They can only evaluate behavior.
So why have so many former “character traits” become symptoms of mental illness? One of the main reasons is money. Here's some information that sheds light on the money side of the mental health business; The information is somewhat outdated, but it is enough to get the main idea. As of 2010:
Global sales of antidepressants, stimulants, sedatives and antipsychotics have reached more than $76 billion annually.
54 million people worldwide were taking antidepressants, which are known to cause addiction and often violent and homicidal behavior.
In the US, 20% of all women were taking psychiatric medications in 2010. In fact, one in four women is pacified by using Prozac.
20 million children worldwide have been diagnosed with mental disorders and prescribed stimulants and/or potent antidepressants.
In 2002, more than 100 million prescriptions were written for antidepressants alone (face value: $19.5 billion)
In France, every seventh prescription is for a psychiatric drug, and more than 50% of employees took such drugs (1.8 million people, as of 2010).
Between 1986 and 2004, total spending on antipsychotic drugs and antidepressants jumped from $500 million to $20 billion.
In the United States, the inflation-adjusted mental health budget grew from $33 billion in 1994 to $80 billion in 2010 (similar increases have occurred elsewhere).
(data from Stefan Molyneux)
Stefan Molyneux (StefanMolyneux) , from which we obtained the above data, also reports that, according to the US National Institute of Psychiatry (in 2010), “26% of Americans suffer from a mental disorder” and “nearly 58% of Americans will suffer from some kind of mental illness including or another year." So get this - we are literally surrounded by crazy people. As Molyneux rightly points out: if there is a disease for which we have effective treatments, then applying that treatment should reduce the spread of the disease.
For example, several infectious diseases have been nearly or completely eradicated by effective vaccines. In this regard, we should expect that with the advent of psychiatric drugs that supposedly “correct chemical imbalances in the brain”, the number of mentally ill people should decline. The first such funds appeared in the mid-1950s. So what happened? In 1955, throughout the United States, there were 355,000 adults detained in mental institutions, having been diagnosed by psychiatrists as mentally ill. After 50 years of medical care in the form of antipsychotic drugs, this number has increased to more than 4 million patients (as of 2007). What a success!
While the number of psychiatric medications prescribed to children has increased from the mid-1980s to the present day, so has the number of children receiving government disability benefits for intellectual disabilities. It increased from 16,200 in 1986 to 561,569 in 2007 (a 35-fold increase). It seems that all these medications prescribed to children diagnosed with ODD and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have completely the opposite effect than stated.
Number of Americans disabled by mental illness since Prozac was introduced
Again, does not currently exist no convincing evidence any chemical, biological or genetic causes of mental illness. The classifications found in the DSM manual are obtained through “peer consensus” rather than through any objective measurement. And yet, drugs that change brain chemistry are prescribed as treatment. The greater the number of new diseases produced by the above consensus, the more courses of treatment can be prescribed. As the doctor said Thomas Dorman (ThomasDorman) , GP and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Great Britain, and Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada:
"In short, The entire business of creating psychiatric categories of “diseases,” formalizing them in accordance with consensus, and subsequently assigning diagnostic codes to them, which in turn leads to their use in insurance pricing, is nothing more than a large-scale fraud that gives psychiatry a pseudoscientific aura . The performers, of course, feed at the government trough.”
It's not too hard to see the incredible monetary incentives that drive this business of declaring as many people as mentally ill as possible. There is no such thing as a harmless "weirdo" anymore. Any deviation from the norms established by the psychiatric profession means that someone needs treatment. Only redneck is normal.
Stefan Molyneux's podcast on mental illness, from which we got most of the above statistics, can be viewed.
Good serfs silence freethinkers with drugs
However, there may be another reason why anti-authoritarianism is on the list of behaviors considered symptoms of mental illness. Psychologist doctor Bruce Levin (BruceLevine) highlighted this problem in an article entitled “Why opponents of authoritarianism are considered mentally ill.” A few relevant passages follow below. First, Dr. Levine explains why there seems to be so little opposition to authoritarianism in the United States. The reason is that many of them have been gagged with drugs:
“Opponents of authoritarianism ask whether a government is legitimate before taking that power seriously. Assessing the legitimacy of authorities involves assessing whether those authorities really know what they are talking about, whether they are honest, and whether they care about those people who respect their authority. And when opponents of authoritarianism find power illegitimate, they challenge and resist that power—sometimes aggressively, sometimes passive-aggressively, sometimes wisely, sometimes not.
Some activists lament how few opponents of authoritarianism there are in the United States. One reason may be that many natural fighters against authoritarianism are now psychopathologized and drugged before they reach the political consciousness of the most oppressive governing bodies of society.”
But why is this happening, other than the monetary incentives discussed above? Why are psychiatrists so eager to stupefy opponents of authoritarianism with the help of drugs? According to Dr. Levine, the reason is that most psychiatrists' careers involve an excessive degree of cooperation with authorities, to the point that they no longer even realize how obedient they have become. When faced with patients who do not demonstrate the same degree of compliance, they instantly suspect that there is something to diagnose and treat:
“The selection and socialization of mental health professionals tend to root out many opponents of authoritarianism. Having been involved in higher education for ten years of my life, I know that degrees and track records are, first and foremost, symbols of conformity. Those who deal with higher education have lived for many years in a world where people regularly agree to the demands of the authorities. Thus, for many MDs and PhDs, people different from themselves who reject this malleability in attention and behavior seem to them to be from another world - that is, diagnosable.
I have found that most psychologists, psychiatrists and others mental hygiene professionals are not only extremely law-abiding, but they also do not realize the extent of their obedience . And it also became clear to me that The anti-authoritarianism of their patients causes these professionals incredible anxiety, and this anxiety drives diagnoses and treatment .
“In front of me I see words that you shouldn’t have written...” Raymond Pettibon ( Raymond Pettibone ) , creator of album covers for the punk band “BlackFlag”.
In connection with diagnoses of ODD, Dr. Levine quite reasonably asks: “Do we really want to diagnose and treat everyone with 'rule-governed behavior deficits'? As he notes, many of those people who have enriched humanity with revolutionary new scientific concepts, inventions or works of art would, in modern conditions, be labeled as insane and could well be drugged into such a trance that their creations might not even be seen light. As a suitable example he gives Albert Einstein (AlbertEinstein) :
“Chances are, Albert Einstein would have been diagnosed with ADHD and perhaps ODD as a child. Albert Einstein ignored his teachers, failed his college entrance exams twice, and had trouble holding down a job. However, Einstein's biographer Ronald Clark (RonaldClark) (Einstein: The Life and Times) states that Albert's problems stemmed not from attention deficits, but from his hatred of the authoritarian Prussian discipline in his schools.
Einstein said: “The teachers in the elementary school seemed to me like sergeants, and in the gymnasium the teachers were like lieutenants.” At the age of 13, Einstein read a difficult work - the work Kant (Kant) "Critique of Pure Reason" because he was interested. Clark also tells us that Einstein refused to prepare for college as a protest against the “intolerable” path of a “practical profession” chosen by his father. After Einstein finally went to college, one professor told him: “You have one flaw; You can’t say anything.” It was precisely those characteristics of Einstein that so worried the authorities that allowed him to reach new heights.”
Photo source:GettyImages
Most likely, Einstein, pumped full of Haldol, would not have succeeded too much. Well, he even looked like a madman: theoretical physicist and avowed opponent of authoritarianism Albert Einstein, who discovered several trivial formulas likeE= mc 2 . Rumor has it that he also invented gravity, which we have been struggling with ever since.
As Dr. Levine notes, once opponents of authoritarianism are declared mentally ill, they are likely to become victims of a vicious cycle:
“Many anti-authoritarians who have been diagnosed as mentally ill earlier in their lives tell me that once they were labeled as mentally ill, they found themselves in a dilemma. Supporters of authoritarian power, by definition, demand unconditional obedience, and therefore any resistance to their diagnosis and treatment caused enormous concern among psychiatrists. And the professionals, losing control, declared them “untreatable,” made ever more severe diagnoses and added more medications.”
Dr. Levin then concludes that the direction in which the system is moving does indeed resemble "Sovietization," just as the ruling classes once used the authoritarian religious establishment to enforce the continuation of status quo, today psychiatry deals with this:
“What better way to maintain the status quo than to view distraction, anxiety and depression as biochemical problems of those who are mentally ill, rather than as normal reactions to an increasingly authoritarian society.
This is how proponents of authoritarianism financially isolate those who oppose the system, they criminalize anti-authoritarianism, they “psychopathologize” opponents of authoritarianism, and they sell drugs for their “cure.”
Obviously, the system provides ample opportunity for both intentional and unintentional abuse.
Conclusion:
To avoid misunderstanding, it is worth noting that we do not mean here to suggest that there is no such thing as mental illness, or that psychiatry is completely useless in diagnosing it or providing effective treatment for it. The same goes for psychotropic drugs: there are certainly drugs that can help to relieve some of the symptoms of serious mental conditions and allow people to lead relatively normal lives that would otherwise be unattainable for them (that is, we are not completely agree with the findings of Stefan Molyneux; this is simply based on the fact that we know of two specific examples where the appropriate medication has helped people exhibiting severe symptoms associated with schizophrenia).
However, it is important to understand that sciences that deal with the human mind are thymological in nature and cannot make statements based on objectively measurable physical quantities. Yet the industry has become a “growth industry” in every respect; the number of behaviors labeled as “abnormal” and the number of drugs prescribed to treat such behaviors has increased exponentially. This is a dangerous development, and the fact that almost every unusual personality trait is suddenly recognized as a symptom of a disease is certainly thought-provoking (it is dangerous on several levels: think, for example, of the large number of mass murders committed by people who were prescribed psychotropic drugs. The relationship is This, of course, is not always the reason, but still...)
Psychopathologizing rebellious behavior is yet another step down what feels like an increasingly slippery slope, and it hits us especially hard. As Dr. Levine, among others, points out: “My experience is that many anti-authoritarians with psychiatric diagnoses tend to reject All authorities, but only those whom they assess as illegitimate".
In other words, the term “anti-authoritarian” does not necessarily denote a complete rejection of all authority, but rather a healthy questioning of the legitimacy of existing authorities. This seems even more necessary today, when governments, in the name of providing comprehensive security (a task at which they predictably fail), consider it normal to let individual freedom die with a bang.
“Fuck yoga, crush the state”
Free-spirited street art that suddenly appeared on a wall in Montreal.
Today in ISKCON there is a lot of talk about leadership principles. Devotees attend seminars and meetings and read books on the art of leadership. However, Srila Prabhupada, as far as we know, did not attend any seminars or read any books on leadership, but was nevertheless a perfect leader. Even nondevotees admit this. One of the main managers of Stephen Covey's organization, after reading Srila Pabhupada Lilamrita, noted that Srila Prabhupada fully embodied the “seven habits.” Why was Srila Prabhupada naturally a good leader?
The leader is influence and the source of influence is Krishna. Because Srila Prabhupada was directly related to the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna, he was endowed with the potency of devotion, bhakti-sakti. Srila Prabhupada, completely immersed in devotion to Krishna, understood that this devotion awakens. Therefore, he made sure that the spirit of devotion was always present in his society. We must learn to recognize, study and practice these principles, which were something completely natural for Srila Prabhupada.
There is a huge difference between authority and authoritarianism. The following are Webster's Collegiate Dictionary definitions for these words. It is in this sense that these words are used in this book. "Authoritative" means "based on or having authority." An authoritative person (or group of people) deserves recognition and trust.
The word "authoritarian", according to Webster's dictionary, has two meanings. The first indicates blind obedience to authority, and the second indicates the concentration of power in the hands of leaders who bear no constitutional responsibility to the people. In other words, such leaders are in no way responsible for the problems of society and claim respect regardless of their behavior.
Because of his inner spiritual power, a true spiritual leader has authority. He does not rely on blind obedience, title or customs accepted in a particular religious organization. He always tries to improve internally and knows that he will cope with the burden of responsibility of his position only if he is open, pure and selfless. He cares for others because he feels the connection of all beings with Sri Krishna and knows that all souls are part and parcel of the Lord. Such a leader always feels responsible for people. If someone suffers, complains, or perceives a situation incorrectly, they feel personally responsible for it. He makes every effort to understand what is his fault in the occurrence of a particular problem, and how to solve it. People naturally follow such a leader; he earns their sincere respect.
The current ISKCON is torn apart by great internal conflicts, such as with the ritvikvadis, who are considered deviant. And the recent mass exodus of devotees to other Gaudiya Vaishnava organizations has been a real shock for many ISKCON members. Some leaders believe that it is necessary to somehow combat these problems, but many of them do not even think about the fact that they often created them themselves.
If the guru is humble, considering himself just a priest and trying simply to help his flock, then both the disciples and other followers will be deeply grateful to him. If he considers himself better than others, proud of his followers and position, then there will be people who will begin to convince everyone that he is just a clergyman, and not a guru in the full sense of the word. The highest justice is seen in this, and it is quite possible that the Lord Himself arranges this to teach a lesson to His devotee.
During the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, the mahantas, the temple leaders, under the influence of greed, began to spread the jati-gosaya heresy and tried to gain a monopoly on the right to worship the salagrama-sila and give initiation. When Srila Saraswati Thakura challenged these mahantas, they hired goons and attacked his group of pilgrims during the Gaura-mandala parikrama in Navadvipa. As a result, many local residents, seeing their mahantas attacking innocent Vaishnava pilgrims, lost faith in their traditional religion of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, and heretical apasa mpradayas began to spring up like mushrooms after rain.
There is a proverb in Bengal: “A fish rots from the head.” This means that deviations that occur within a religious tradition or organization are often the responsibility of the religious leaders themselves. Some of the causes of the current problems in our communities are self-interest, authoritarianism and pride, which, as the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism shows, has caused problems before. History often repeats itself.
Excerpt from the book Hidden Obstacles on the Path of Bhakti by Purnachandra Goswami.
According to the theory of Karl Marx, any state is an apparatus for the violent suppression of all other layers of society by the ruling class. Ideologically, many of the views of this theorist can be disputed, but such a definition seems quite fair. In a sense, any state is an authoritarian regime.
Until now, no one has really determined what exactly distinguishes an authoritarian regime from a democratic one. Nowadays, it is mainly the US State Department that is responsible for sorting countries into free and totalitarian, but it does this, understandably, based on the national interests of its homeland. F.D. Roosevelt is credited with defining Somoza Sr. as a scoundrel, but an American one, and therefore a democratic one. Franklin Delano himself was elected to a responsible post four times, and at the most fateful moments for the United States, which became a kind of record. At the same time, during his career, Roosevelt often made unpopular decisions among the population, and he was often reproached for establishing an authoritarian regime in the country.
French President Charles de Gaulle was also criticized by the opposition for being undemocratic. Seeking economic independence from the United States, he stopped the colonial war in Algeria, made certain concessions to the USSR, and committed many other actions that irritated his political opponents. The decisions made by Gaulle himself would not have found support from the opposition parties, but, confident in his rightness, he went ahead, as they say, and ultimately proved the correctness of his own policy. Feeling that the majority was not always right, the French president established an authoritarian regime of government.
Any strong government leader in difficult moments for the country is forced to make decisions that are not to the liking of a certain part of the political and economic elite, this happens in almost all countries. As if spontaneously, an opposition appears, financed by oligarchs or foreign opponents of the new course, which immediately begins to convince the population that the leader has established an authoritarian regime. The signs by which it is determined are numerous and often contradictory.
The main one of these signs is very convenient for manipulation. These are free elections. The voting process is always difficult and is not without violations, each of which can be declared flagrant. The next thing in line is usually the fact of suppressing the opposition, more often defined by the word “massacre.” Any embezzled oligarch who ends up behind bars can claim that he is being persecuted for political reasons, as if the very fact of involvement in opposition forces should serve as some kind of safe conduct, guaranteeing immunity and complete freedom of action - from embezzlement to banal hooliganism. However, it should be taken into account that those who oppose government policy are not at all cherished by government officials in any country, even in the bastion of democracy, the United States.
So, neither the fight against the opposition, nor violations during voting, nor the degree of participation of the broad masses in government are signs that distinguish an authoritarian regime from a totalitarian one. What's the difference then? It is significant, and lies in the personal abilities of a strong leader to attract supporters of his policies and maintain power by legal means. Authoritarianism is possible in democratic countries. But it is almost useless under totalitarianism, when a leader is promoted from the ranks of the ruling elite based on how convenient he is to its other members. An authoritarian regime is a necessary measure when the country is going through difficult moments and various threats, from
Each profession has its own diseases, which can make a person unable to work or significantly worsen his quality of life. cannot be called an exception - constant stay in one position threatens a whole “bouquet” of diseases. There is an opinion that they are associated only with the musculoskeletal system, but this is completely wrong. Lack of movement can disrupt the functioning of the nervous system, digestive tract, blood supply and even the genitals! Occupational diseases of drivers are very dangerous - in order to never encounter them, you need to follow the rules of prevention.
Driving for a long time can lead to the development of certain diseases.
Digestion
Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are the first to overtake the driver. The most common problem is the strong growth of adipose tissue, which accumulates on the abdomen, hips and chest. You've probably noticed that most truck drivers are overweight because the nutrients their bodies receive are not properly absorbed, but are converted into fat. The reason for such changes in metabolism is trivial - with uneven and unbalanced nutrition, a person spends almost no energy.
The way to combat this occupational disease of drivers is also simple. You should give up hamburgers, hot dogs and sweet soda, no matter how attractive they may seem. A professional driver is recommended to eat a diet low in fat and carbohydrates: chicken and beef, vegetables, skim milk, cottage cheese, lean fish. It is better to cook your own food for the trip or order dietary products from roadside cafes - fortunately, many chain establishments already offer them. Professional drivers should also visit the gym and treadmill between trips.
With constant sitting, another occupational disease manifests itself, represented by impaired intestinal motility. Food consumed on the go cannot be properly digested and often stays in the intestines longer than it should. The result is the accumulation of toxic substances, irritation of the mucous membranes and disruption of enzyme production. That is why occupational diseases of drivers include inflammation of various parts of the intestine - from the duodenum to the rectum. If left untreated in the long term, foci of inflammation can develop into malignant polyps.
Many drivers do not pay attention to what they eat on the road, but in vain...
Prevention can be eating on a comfortable chair in a cafe, where you can take any desired position. Also, after a serious lunch or dinner, it is worth walking for at least 15 minutes to start the normal digestion process. Occupational diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can also be prevented with the help of gymnastic exercises performed every 3 hours of travel:
- Torso rotations;
- Body tilts;
- Squats.
The problem of all professional drivers is hemorrhoids. More often it overtakes those who drive domestic equipment or old foreign cars, since their seats were designed without taking into account the impact on human health. There are few reasons for hemorrhoids - constipation caused by improper bowel function, lack of fiber in food, and poor circulation in the pelvis. To avoid such an occupational disease, you need to follow the recommendations given above, eat a lot of raw vegetables and whole grain bread, and also use a special medical seat cushion.
Muscles and spine
Very often there are pinched muscles that they prefer to ignore. After a few hours, the pinched area begins to hurt very much, and sensations of burning and numbness appear at the same time. If you continue to ignore such an occupational disease, deformation of the musculoskeletal system may occur, which will lead to internal bleeding, failure of the digestive system and metabolic disorders. Also, strong muscle tension negatively affects the spine, which is also incredibly dangerous for human life.
Many drivers experience spinal problems
From the initial lesion of the spine it is not far to osteochondrosis, which is considered the scourge of modern man due to the sedentary lifestyle of representatives of many professions. The symptoms of such an occupational disease of drivers are quite varied and unpleasant:
- Dull or stabbing pain in the ridge area;
- Feeling of tightness and immobility (“stone back”);
- Severe pain in the pelvis and chest, as if piercing the body;
- With damage to the cervical vertebrae - temporary clouding of consciousness, hallucinations in the form of colored dots;
- Cramps, headache.
Drivers make the mistake of following advertising. They use a variety of creams and ointments to relieve pain. They can have some therapeutic effect, but to get the full effect, you need to temporarily stop driving and do therapeutic exercises, which almost no one does.
The next stage is represented by spondyloarthrosis, which is sometimes called a herniated disc. The intervertebral discs cease to be normally supplied with fluid and supported by muscles, as a result of which, with every movement of the driver, they are abraded and the resulting chips accumulate. The symptoms are even worse than in the previous case - professional drivers describe an exacerbation of the hernia as a sharp, unbearable pain that does not allow one to change position even by a millimeter and produces a burning sensation in all parts of the body when the car hits the smallest bump. The result is surgery and disability of the third group for a year, which means suspension from driving.
Dr. Bubnovsky, who treats and rehabilitates professional racers from the KamAZ-Master team, claims that such a disease is easy to prevent. Every 3-4 hours the driver should stop, get out of the car, rest his hands on a solid part of its body, and then alternately squat on one leg, placing the other far back, which will help stretch the intervertebral discs, improving their nutrition. Following this, the professional driver needs to do at least 10 forward bends with straight arms and legs, as well as 10 side bends of the torso with legs wide apart and arms lying on the sides. It is also advisable to run around the car a couple of times and then stand for 1-2 minutes, leaning on the body, to relax the muscles and prevent the development of their diseases.
The cardiovascular system
Experts have proven that 80% of drivers develop varicose veins in one form or another after 20 years of experience. Prolonged lack of movement causes severe pain in the legs, weakness, swelling and other unpleasant symptoms. Prevention of occupational disease is very simple - you need to periodically warm up during long periods of time, as well as jogging and walking for a long time.
Don't ignore symptoms of cardiovascular dysfunction
Taxi and delivery drivers, who are forced to work in incredibly tight schedules, are at risk of heart attack, which is associated with emotional overstrain. It is recommended to reduce the amount of cholesterol-rich foods in your diet, and also not to indulge in coffee and strong tea, which are often abused by professional drivers. If you are unable to calm yourself in difficult situations, you should visit a psychologist who will prescribe a course of therapy.
Due to low physical activity, atrophy of the heart muscle develops, which results in hypertension. High blood pressure can cause deadly diseases: heart attack, stroke, coronary artery disease. The method of preventing such an occupational disease of a driver is described above - physical activity, reducing the consumption of caffeine and other energy drinks.
Reproductive system
Drivers' diseases are especially unfavorable for men, since they can result in infertility and impotence. The main reason for this problem is the lack of blood movement in the pelvic organs. The prostate gland, having ceased to receive sufficient nutrition, no longer performs its function. The production of hormones stops, sperm production decreases, and the prostate itself increases in size, causing discomfort in the pelvic area, intestinal damage and frequent complicated urination. To get rid of such an occupational disease, it is enough to do gymnastic exercises during a long trip.
If you do not change your position for a long time, male infertility may develop as a result of overheating of the testicles. Spermatozoa die from high temperature or become inactive. Conception will not be possible within 3-4 days after such a trip. If overheating is repeated regularly, sperm may remain non-viable forever. This occupational disease is especially dangerous when there is a heated seat.
Lungs
Since the driver is constantly surrounded by exhaust gases that literally spread over the busy road, he is forced to inhale more than 200 toxic compounds. The abrasion of which produces asbestos dust also contributes to the development of occupational diseases. The first symptom of damage to the respiratory system by occupational diseases is a sore throat, which may be accompanied by mild bleeding. If you ignore this symptom, you can achieve degeneration of the mucous membrane, in which it stops protecting the lungs from toxic damage.
For professional drivers, toxins and dust penetrate both the lungs and bronchi. The situation is aggravated by smoking, since the organs of the respiratory system become sensitive and extremely susceptible to such damage. The result is inflammatory processes, the foci of which over time can transform into oncological tumors. Emphysema is also an occupational disease for drivers, a growth of blood vessels and connective tissue that reduces the volume of the lungs. This disease is deadly because when ventilation of the lungs deteriorates, they become a target for harmful microorganisms.
Health comes first
Even if you love your car very much, you should not feel sorry for it more than yourself. Remember that just as a machine needs maintenance, the human body needs proper care, as well as the prevention of dangerous diseases. By doing gymnastics and normalizing your diet, you can prevent strokes, heart attacks, spinal lesions, and also maintain the functionality of the digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems.
A few months ago (summer 2015), I set myself a task: to learn how to communicate with authoritarian individuals. At school we were taught to solve problems in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and no one taught us to solve problems in psychology.
You got authoritarian parents and a boss at work - what to do? Run away into the desert and live as a hermit? And there is nothing to eat there, and there are lions running around and biting. There is a problem - you need to look for a solution. After all, they were created for this purpose, to solve them.
I read a lot of articles, watched a lot of videos on the Internet and finally understood a simple truth: you need to fight not with someone else’s sin, but with your own, and this sin is called lust for power (lust of power).
Let's say someone shouted at me in an authoritative tone, and anger boils in my chest - this is my own lust for power awakening, and a battle for power begins. Two power-hungers are fighting for dominance in a family or team. The struggle is endless and exhausting, in which everyone loses. You need to fight not for power, but against the lust for power, and then many difficulties in communicating with people disappear by themselves. You will not cope with power-hungry spouses until you defeat the love of power in yourself.
You can be in a subordinate position, even a slave on a galley, but maintain a sense of dignity and self-respect.
Compare the two images.
The majordomo in the house of an English lord, calm and unperturbed. The owner screams and swears, and the majordomo slowly climbs the stairs, the owner’s insults are like a mosquito squeak for him.
Or a slave with a bent back spins around the master and obsequiously offers his services.
An obsequious slave is as power-hungry as his master. Swap the places of slave and master, nothing will change.
Lust for power is the desire to subjugate another person to your power, an encroachment on his free will. God created man free, and each of us is free to choose between good and evil. The Lord himself does not encroach on human freedom. Satan, on the contrary, comes up with the most sophisticated methods of enslaving people.
The first thing that catches your eye is the manifestation of lust for power in everyday life. The husband does not twist the tube of toothpaste and scatters dirty socks around the room. Yesterday I cleaned the apartment, today all my things are scattered again. Irritation is growing. And why? Because I want the other person to do what I WANT, dress the way I LIKE, behave in a way that makes ME feel comfortable with him. What about him? Is he comfortable with you? A person is brought up this way, he is used to this kind of life, he lives the way he wants. And until he himself wants to change, no one will change him, he can only be broken as a person. Do you like living with a person whom you crushed and broke? Does he like it?
Wives nag their husbands to force them to do housework. You can’t imagine how much the voice affects a person’s psyche - he becomes lethargic, apathetic, falls on the sofa and doesn’t want to do anything. And a noisy wife is likely to get inflammation of the thyroid gland.
Lust for power also appears under the guise of good wishes: “I’m trying for your sake, I wish you the best. Do as I tell you. Obey me.” Or not so rudely and obviously, for example, a woman walks in simple clothes, I think: “If you dressed her up in beautiful clothes, how good she would look!” I want to intervene in someone else’s life, I want to “improve” it. How do I know what is better and what is worse for this woman? And what does she want?
The man swears, and this disgusts those around him. He grew up in a dysfunctional family, he heard nothing but swearing - what is his fault? And if you try to force him to express himself culturally, you will hear choice curse words in response. And all because it is useless to force, you need to convince.
In men, as a rule, the lust for power manifests itself in ideological terms. Impose your ideology. “Let it not be me who rules the world, but the ideas born of me.” In women, such mania is less common. Women more often become victims of male ideologists, fanatical followers and disseminators of dubious teachings. Christianity is not an ideology, and Jesus Christ did not die for an idea.
Excessive involvement in other people's problems is also a desire to “improve” the world, to make it the way we want. We are trying to “help” someone solve their problems, but we don’t know what kind of help the person really needs. We are blind, deaf and guided by some ridiculous prejudices. There is no need to “make” humanity happy; people already have everything they need to be happy. Whether a person is happy or not depends only on himself.
And so every day, every hour you monitor your thoughts: do you want to impose on another person your way of life, manner of behavior, manner of speech, your worldview, your faith. It is very difficult to constantly take care of yourself, but with God's help everything is possible. And when you give in to thoughts: people are not what we want, and judgment begins; the world is not the way we want it to be, and whining and complaints about life begin.
After a couple of months, my back straightened. Without any gymnastics, the stoop disappeared. A pleasant surprise! And that’s not all: I began to feel my body, what is called bodily attentiveness, observation or awareness appeared. I began to notice that when you want to change something that you cannot change, tension arises in your body and head. When you say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, or write the wrong thing, unpleasant sensations appear in your body, as if it is trying to say: “Stop!” Even the body tries to stop us, but we don’t hear it.
Such interesting things began to happen to me while I was struggling with the thoughts of “bending the world and people to myself.” When the desire to bend other people disappears, you yourself become unbending (my back even straightened).
Fears, worries, and addictions began to disappear. Self-confidence appeared. I stopped worrying about what other people would say or think about me. This is natural: you stopped imposing your opinion on others and stopped depending on other people’s opinions. Communication works both ways. You can learn to respect yourself, and then respect for other people will appear. Or vice versa, learning to respect other people will give you self-respect.
You stop tormenting yourself because you accidentally offended someone. All your life you have been criticized and demanded to be perfect, but you are not perfect. You accept yourself as you are. You try to accept other people as they are, although it is very difficult. What can we do with another person? You can only change yourself.
You don’t need to convince yourself that you are better than you really are, otherwise you won’t have the desire to change.
And there is no need to humiliate yourself: man is the image of God, which needs to be cleansed of dirt. Don't let yourself be humiliated. Respect yourself. You not only desecrate the Image of God in your own person, but also corrupt another person with your servility and servility. This is not humility, this is people-pleasing. You don’t have to shout or swear, but calmly and confidently demand respect for yourself: “Excuse me, why are you talking to me so rudely? Don’t be rude.” "There are no servants here. If you want something, ask politely." "Say the magic word 'please'." "You don't ask, you order, and you ask."
People have become so mad that they have forgotten how to ask. "I want you to cook dinner!" "You should cook me dinner." “Go to the kitchen, quickly.”
But pride doesn’t allow you to ask? “My dear, will you prepare dinner for me?”, “My dear, please feed me.”
Sometimes you can hear statements like: “Don’t you see that you need to help,” “Don’t you see that you need to do this and that.” Why should a person see what you point out to him, as if he doesn’t have his own worries? Approach and ask politely. Or soon you’ll start talking like Woland from M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”: “Never ask for anything! Never and nothing, and especially among those who are stronger than you. They will offer and give everything themselves.”
The Bible says: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you; For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-8).
Even in a temple you rarely hear the magic word “please”. If you don’t know how to ask people, how then do you ask God? Prayer is a request, or at least a cry for help, and not an order or demand.
Everything turned out to be not simple, but very simple: we cannot change the world and people, only ourselves. "If you want to change the world, start with yourself." Hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see how to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.(Matt. 7:5). We knew this, we read it, but we never tried to put it into practice. We demand from others that they change, but we ourselves are so ideal that we do not need any correction. And you try to change yourself, and such miracles will begin to happen, you’ll simply be amazed.
Perhaps a person’s consciousness changes very quickly, but the body and psyche are rebuilt slowly. The ability to stand up for yourself does not appear immediately, but gradually, and brings great relief. The body has habits, stable neural connections are created in the brain; it takes at least forty days to weaken them.
When you struggle with your sins, your eyes open: you begin to see what you did not see before, understand what you did not understand before. Solving problems and answering questions come naturally.
Why were we given authoritarian parents and bosses? So that we can look inside ourselves and see our own sin. If we gave free rein to our hereditary lust for power, we would turn into despots who torture other people and get a bunch of “power-hungry diseases.” Our parents and bosses were a restraining force for us, now we can become a restraining force for them. To repay good for good, to help “take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” God is wise, He arranged everything very wisely, and when you understand this, anger and resentment disappear, only gratitude remains.
And Goethe wrote well about the love of power (translation by Boris Zakhoder):
That's the problem, that's the problem -
Everyone climbed into the gentlemen.
And at the same time - not a single one
You are not your own master!