The statistics for global mental health are truly horrific. Whether you look at any scattering of headlines or simply do a search for current mental health statistics, the Big Unknown is everywhere.
One in two people is expected to have some sort of mental health problem in their lifetime. Bear in mind that some people class mental health problems as a “disability”. That’s not exactly a healthy stat or a great inspiration for the future.
The future is looking more than a bit queasy. Very much on the wrong side of this eulogy are the three younger generations, the Millennials, Gen Z, and Alpha. These generations are getting a raw deal in terrible times.
It is just barely possible that living in a delusional society which mass produces stress 24/7 might be a problem.
The primary causes of mass mental ill-health aren’t exactly mysteries. The cost of living, hysterical polarized politics, wars, workplace clashes, and other attractions are obvious. A virtually psychotic society that demands social norms that are impossible for younger people to meet isn’t helping much, either.
Consider a situation where to be a “success” you have to produce a family, a college degree, a career, and be wealthy with no resources and no support. Your average raccoon has a better chance of success on those terms.
To be successful as a raccoon, all it has to do is be a functional raccoon. Being a functional human being is hardly a guarantee of anything resembling success.
Even the most mediocre behaviorist will tell you that your ultra-toxic social and physical environments are the primary factors in psychological stress.
There is such a thing as the obvious. These generations have been set up to fail miserably, and the older generations are also taking big hits.
That’s the basic situation. There’s a very much bigger and tougher problem.
How do you define a trustworthy way out?
What’s the definition of an objective for fixing global mental health?
What does a healthy society look like?
Let’s leave out the rhetoric. Throughout history, healthy societies are mainly images. The actual societies were just as oppressive in terms of social dysfunction. What’s changed is that for a brief period after World War Two, there was a brief glimpse of success for a relatively large part of Western societies.
That success created an ideal which has been romanticized way beyond what it was in fact, but it’s a useful ideal. People weren’t massively overstressed and getting constantly sick. You could succeed on the basis of a single wage.
Life was liveable, believe it or not. You could enjoy it. The quality of material life was undeniably much better. The human culture was still pretty basic, as anyone who went to high school knows, but overall, it was at least a look at a healthy society.
OK, so we now have an image of success as a sort of idealized crayon map. Superimposed on this map is an encyclopaedia of impossibilities.
We do not have:
An organized systemic whole of society response to the mental health crisis worthy of the name.
A culture that understands the importance of mental health.
A society with any level of objectivity on mental health.
A business culture capable of understanding that people can’t live on choke chains. People can’t even manage their time, let alone their lives.
An economic structure that allows people to function realistically.
This antiquated, obsolete social perspective is creating stress at incredible levels. The goals are unattainable, the means to succeed unavailable, and the rationales for failure are at plague levels.
Failure is not an option.
_____________________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
