October 10 – World Mental Health Day

nPosted October 10, 2019

Key Points

nThe thing about “mental health” is that it really is physical heath we are talking about, just as much as dealing with diabetes or cancer is physical health. That’s because mental health problems can be caused by chemical imbalances or medications; brain injuries or differences; environmental factors such as pollution, poisoning, or stress; genetic factors; and combinations of two or more of the above.

And chemicals, medicines, brains, genes, and the environment are all physical things!

nBut as long as we remember that crucial bit of information, it is still helpful to have a category of health care called “mental health.” The things that fit into this category are things we observe in a person’s personality, moods, and/or behaviors; mental health problems have to do with how a person acts, feels, perceives, and/or thinks.

nIn Western societies, in the olden times – before modern medicine, what we might call “the bad old days” – a person who heard voices that weren’t really there, a person who occasionally had an uncontrollable urge to shout curse words, and a person who sometimes started shaking or suffered seizures – all of these people were thought to be possessed by a demon or cursed by god or subject to some supernatural force. The cure? All sorts of dreadful things were done to people who acted “abnormally” – from drilling holes in people’s skulls to burning them at the stake, from exile to exorcism.

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nNow we know better. We know that mental health disorders are many and varied, and that they have many and varied physical causes – they aren’t the result of bad choices or “sins.”

nWe now also have various medications and therapies we can try to help those who suffer from disorders.

nWe know that there is an entire range of “normal” and don’t consider as problems some behaviors that used to be considered problematic.

nAnd we know the upsides of what many people still consider abnormal behavior; for example, autistic people are really honest and non-judgmental, and most have great memories (among other positive aspects of autism).

nStill…

n“We” might know better, but a lot of people still act as if mental health problems are the victim’s fault, as if the person with a problem is choosing to have that problem. As if there were no physical aspect of mental disorders.

“Just cheer up.” Those words aren’t just useless, they make things worse for someone suffering from clinical depression. Other unhelpful words for those who are depressed include “But you’re so smart” [or pretty, or athletic, or talented, or rich, or popular, or whatever]. Remember that some super gifted, rich, famous people suffer from depression, too.

n“It’s all in your head.” Again, useless. People suffering from crippling anxiety doesn’t think that they a problem located in their elbows or centered in their lungs – they know that anxiety is a brain-thing, and brains are located in heads. But what is implied by these words is that the problem is make believe, that people with anxiety just want attention, that anxiety attacks are enjoyable for drama queens. Again, these words make things worse.

n“Just try yoga” [or exercise, or meditation, or eating more fruits and veggies, or whatever]. Actually, these things might help some people who are struggling with some illnesses and disorders, at least a bit. But I think we can assume that (1) a person who has a problem has already tried most things we can pop off the top of our heads, (2) many mental illnesses or disorders are not solved even a little bit by yoga or diet [etc.], (3) people with problems often get told “just do this-and-so” by trillions of people per day [slight exaggeration] and would preferred to be listened to than lectured to.

nInstead of blaming victims, instead of stigmatizing seeking help for mental health problems, instead of ignoring or shrugging off invisible disorders – our societies should be working to educate everyone about mental health, and we should be working to make it easier to get help with mental health.