People seek out psychotherapists and psychiatrists because they are emotionally distressed and for no other reason I am aware. For this single reason, the answer to the above question should be perfectly clear however when I ask a client this question who has been in therapy for several years there is always a hesitation. The next question I ask is did your therapist measure and track your emotional state. The answer again is no. This is at minimum very curious considering everything we do as human beings is emotionally driven.
Emotion precedes behavior therefore, emotion has everything to do with depression, ADHD, and yes even weight loss. Below we will take a look at each one of these issues and how Emotional Measurement is missing or completely passed over in favor of other treatments.
Depression
On the two ends of the emotional spectrum are happiness and depression. I am not sure these two human conditions could be mistaken for anything other than emotion yet the standard approach to depression is almost an immediate referral to medication. All one has to do is go to an MD and tell them your sad. There is absolutely no consideration to human emotion and usually, within ten minutes you have a prescription for an antidepressant.
ADHD
I consider ADHD diagnosis and treatment the most obscene and blatant disregard of human emotion. Emotion drives behavior yet when diagnosing ADHD emotion is not considered in favor of ambiguous behaviors. If someone exhibits certain very subjective ambiguous behaviors they are considered to be ADHD. These diagnoses are especially disturbing when used to prescribe medication to children.
Weight Loss
Weight loss is the only one of these three which one may argue, “Hey I was just hungry.” Digging deeper however with someone who is making a conscious effort to lose weight and will always lead back to emotion. In 29 years of working with eating disorders and weight loss clients, no one has ever said to me “Gee I did not realize eating an entire cheesecake was going to make me fat.” I contend therefore that even with weight loss Emotional Measurement must be the first step if one expects to get control one's eating behavior.
Measuring Tracking and Improving Emotion as a Foundational Protocol
If one is emotionally distressed it simply makes sense to begin treatment with Emotional Measurement. The next step is to track and improve the emotional state of the person who is in emotional distress. Once this fundamental step is completed then other forms of treatment can be considered if the client does not improve. Skipping the fundamental step of Emotional Measurement especially in regard to children in my opinion is no less than criminal.
It is NOT Mental Illness it is Emotional Wellness
What do all behavior disorders have in common? The single common point of all human behavior or disordered behavior is ones emotional state. When the emotional state is effectively addressed in regard to any disorder this leads to a resolution to the emotional distress. This also eliminates the need for labeling or diagnosis. When there is no longer a need for labels there is no longer a stigma. The term mental illness could even be replaced with emotional wellness.
For the abstract, definitions case, and group studies on Burris Emotional Measurement™ please visit the Evidence-Based section of Burris Institute.
About Kelly Burris, PhD, MBC
Kelly Burris has defined ‘Normal’ in an industry, that only defines broken or disordered. He is the developer of the empirically sound Subconscious Restructuring™ process and founder of Burris Institute. With over 150 medical references Subconscious Restructuring™ represents a scientific breakthrough in mental health, and it has done this without meds, labels, or personal history.
As part of the Burris, ecosystem Subconscious Restructuring™ Practitioners can manage, track and interact with current and future clients after certification on BurrisConnect.com. This same ecosystem enables corporate, military, and educational entities to supervise and monitor the performance of their internal Subconscious Restructuring™ (mental health) infrastructure in the cloud.