Let's talk about mental health
Illustration photo. Credit: Sidney Sims / unsplash.com
Patrícia Beličková, Peter Sterančák / February 22, 2020
( 6 min read )
(ed. note: Text was edited by authors /23.2.2020 -15:15/ to clarify that depression is not equated to “feeling sad” and that, on the other hand, it is a serious mental illness on its own)
The world is awful. The world has never been better. The world could be much better. All of these claims are true. Perhaps it is a matter of perspective. However, it is fair to say that we live in the most peaceful and comfortable times in world history.
So, from a historical perspective, the world has never been better. Child mortality, extreme poverty, and the homicide rate are all in at historic lows; this progress is something to behold. Yet, it is true that human beings perceive the world through their personal experience more than by examining precise data. Despite all the above-mentioned achievements, there is still a new silent epidemic of loneliness and depression, especially among young people.
Everybody feels sad from time to time. It is a natural part of human life. As the Danish philosopher and writer Søren Kierkegaard wrote in his book Disease to Death, if we had a real knowledge of man, we would have found that there was never such a person who was not at least a little desperate in some moment during his life. Deep inside, we all feel, at least some of the time, some unrest, disharmony or anxiety, which itself appears as a sudden flash telling us - yes, I am present, I am here, deep inside your soul. However, feeling sad from time to time is not depression. There is an important distinction between the use of words such as “feeling depressed” in public discourse and in what it actually means in professional psychology or medicine. Depression, for example, is a serious mental illness that deserves to be talked about as such.
“There is quite a strong tendency to simplify these diseases today as if all that you have to do to be happy is to read just one more motivational best-seller.”
So, it is important to start with a definition of mental illness because many people think that mental illness is merely something abstract; something we can control by the power of our will, something that does not concern strong individuals, because it is believed that they will never be affected. Perhaps hundreds of motivational books that are flooding our bookshelves are to blame. There is quite a strong tendency to simplify these diseases today as if all that you have to do to be happy is to read just one more motivational best-seller. Yet, the bare fact that these motivational books are so popular is perhaps a sign that this kind of advice is not enough.
Illustration photo. Credit: Pj Accetturo / unsplash.com
“In such a culture, it is not enough to just be; you have to be exceptional! Being just an average simple human is not enough. In this culture, you need to prove your worth! "
According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a medical problem, just like heart disease or diabetes. Serious mental illness is a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder (excluding developmental and substance use disorders) resulting in serious functional impairment, which significantly interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. Examples of serious mental illness include major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder."
It is perhaps reasonable, then, to say that the first step is to realize that depression, for example, cannot be prevented simply by becoming happier. However, there are a few other things that we should know to help rectify our ignorance about the true scope of mental illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, up to 300 million people in the world suffered from depression in 2017. Moreover, predictions from mental health researchers state that depression is going to be the most widespread mental illness of mankind in 2030. These numbers tell us that despite growing motivational literature, the problem is not getting smaller but bigger. So, perhaps the problem of mental health deserves a more in-depth treatment from all of us – citizens, political leaders, and professionals alike.
The World Health Organization, for example, states that the rate of depression rose by 18% globally since 2005. Most of the rise they ascribe to conflict-torn countries, but our peaceful developed world is not out of the hook either. Surely, not all motivational books are superficial and some authors (among them many professionals) deal with the underlying problems of mental health. For example, writer Mark Manson in his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k focuses on how our culture makes us believe we are not worthy unless we buy this or that new thing, while totally ignoring our “cultural value-disorder”.
In such a culture, it is not enough to just be; you have to be exceptional! Being just an average simple human is not enough. In this culture, you need to prove your worth! And it doesn’t really matter whether it comes from your culture or your parents, the messages are the same: You have to become someone! You have to be special! What we don’t realize is that there is a major contradiction here— if everyone can be anything they want and we are all extraordinary and special, then by definition, no one is really special or extraordinary. This is the ugly truth. Manson argues that we all are pretty average humans; some of us excel in one or two areas of life and are admired for it, but none of us excel in everything. It’s impossible to do so because we all have limited time and limited resources. Despite this, our culture continues to parade these contradictory statements and so to fail in a world in which you can be everything and anything, is to fail totally. To fail is to be no one. To fail is to be an inferior human being.
Illustration photo: busy streets of New York, US. Credit: Michael Daniels / unsplash.com
“Our empathy is outsourced to likes on Facebook; our self-care is reduced to quick fixes. In times of quick gadgets, we are caught up in the ever-flowing stream of new information.”
Perhaps, we have become caught up in these contradictions. Our ambitions to prove ourselves have overtaken our unique human needs. Our life is busy and all we want is a quick fix to keep us going. We have so many opportunities to choose from, which can paralyze our decision-making process. At the same time, due to such hectic times, it is not easy to explore our real inner needs.
Our empathy is outsourced to likes on Facebook; our self-care is reduced to quick fixes. In times of quick gadgets, we are caught up in the ever-flowing stream of new information. And since negative information flows quicker than a positive one, we are essentially caught up in a world of negativity bombarding us from all sides – stopping us from seeing the bigger picture, but most importantly, preventing us from having time for ourselves. Shutting down this stream of the new sensational, tragic, or shocking events all around us, at least to a certain extent, might be crucial for our mental health. For example, the rate of suicide has dropped by 29% since 2000, which is very positive news. But when we see that yet another famous celebrity has taken his or her life, it is simply more visible to us, more personal because that’s what the internet and social media do – they make everything quicker, and closer to us.
We should not forget that our perception of the world tends to be quite different from what reality actually is. We tend to forget that our worth is not measured by others, or by our achievements, it is rather an internal value of every human being. If you are a human, you are worthy of love, friendship, and attention. It is enough, to just be. It is also healthy to discard the expectations of others, be it your parents, friends, or culture in general if they do not match your own internal values. In what Mark Manson calls “The tyranny of the culture of exceptionalism” we forget that even exceptional people are exceptional in very few things while being average in most other things. In chasing our dreams to become exceptional–being smarter, cooler, and more successful than everybody—we forget that most things that matter are things that are accessible to all of us, average things like having a friend, the smile of a loved one, etc. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for help, to talk about your failures, fears, or worries. This vulnerability, as Kierkegaard writes, is what makes us more human, not less.
So, let’s talk about mental health without unnecessary social stigma. And if you are struggling yourself, don’t be ashamed to admit it. Don’t be ashamed to seek professional help. When we admit that we are not perfect we release ourselves from the tyranny of other people’s expectations and are then free to be who we really are.
Sources:
https://markmanson.net/being-average
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2018/11/30/why-the-global-suicide-rate-is-falling
https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30934-1/fulltext
