However, it is my opinion that our current outlook and treatment of mental health is also wrong. The statistics say that 1 in 4 people have mental health problems. In my own personal experience, most of my best friends have some kind of 'disorder', have been on anti-depressants or had counselling. At what point do we ask WHY most people are suffering in this way? At what point do we say that there is something wrong with our culture, rather than something wrong with the people who are unhappy in it? Look at the way mass society stigmatises depression. Medicine does much the same.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Krishnamurti
There must be evolutionary benefit in being anxious or depressive, otherwise it would not be so prevalent today. It must have paid off for our ancient ancestors to be wary or pessimistic and hence it is a trait that remains in the human brain. Why are we constantly bombarded with the message that it is wrong to be miserable? Why shouldn't we be, sometimes? If you're depressed or have low self-esteem, you're told that you should be happy, that you have the problem and that you should change. What a way to make a person feel better! Where is the assessment of the CAUSE of that unhappiness? We each have an individual and collective responsibility in society and our collective treatment of people suffering from depression may not help them, as individuals, to overcome it.
The capitalist system is sustained by low self-esteem. Consumerism convinces us that if we bought the latest piece of clothing/anti-wrinkle cream/self-help book, we might finally be happy with ourselves. The media literally harrasses us with images of digitally enhanced perfection that we should all strive to be. The media also surrounds us with idealistic images of love and happiness that are unattainable. For people surrounded by this kind of message, it's no surprise that we all feel inadequate and spend our money on trying not to be.
Why should we be discouraged from constantly questioning the world around us? Why should we be discouraged from wanting things to change? Our greatest progress has come from minds that worked in this way. Some of our greatest thinkers were 'mental'.
“All men who have attained excellence in philosophy, in poetry, in art and in politics, even Socrates and Plato, had a melancholic habitus; indeed some suffered even from melancholic disease.” Aristotle
We should not be telling people who are depressed just to 'get better'. And we could be wasting their potential for changing things in a positive way for all of us by making them feel even worse about themselves or telling them to pop a pill and shut up moaning. My best friends are all a bit 'mental', for me, they are the most interesting people.
Taking an anti-depressant is not going to resolve the underlying cause of mental unrest.
If your life bothers you, what you need to realise is that you CAN often do something about it. You can feel empowered to change the things that make you unhappy. We must help others to reach their potential as much as we must fulfil our duty to reach our own.
One of the most important lessons I learnt last year, was coming to accept the things I could not change in the world and not waste my mental or physical energy on them. It's part of the reason I do not watch television, listen to the radio or read the papers (see previous blog). I cannot stop war. I cannot stop natural disasters. I cannot fix the problems of a global economic system. But, I know what I can change to make my own life better (switching off the TV was one of those things).
I read a book called 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' and it talked about 'working within your circle of influence'. It is no use concerning yourself with things beyond your own personal control. But things like who you spend your time with and what you spend your time on are things you do have control over. You are solely responsible for your mental outlook. Nobody else controls that but you. Once you realise how easy it is to change your attitude, the more empowered you feel and the easier it becomes to change other things in your life. I may not be able to cause world peace. But I can try to ensure that my treatment of other people is respectful and that difficulties are resolved rationally and peacefully.
“To bring peace to the world, you must strive to make your own life peaceful.”
But to say that life should always be easy would be wrong. There is something very nourishing about facing hardship and overcoming it. What's important is recognising when you are putting yourself or others through hardship unnecessarily.
This link takes you to an article that suggests that depressive people, IF they make decisions, make better ones than non-depressed people (having spent much longer thinking about it):
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/does-depression-help-us-think-better/
For me, the trick is knowing the difference between when to think and when to act.
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