Why Mental Health Issues Are Not The Problem

For three decades, I have met thousands of people with mental health issues ranging from anxiety, symptoms of inattention, distractibility, poor working memory to depression.

I have also witnessed society change rapidly, creating new challenges in all areas of life.

This may sound harsh, but most mental issues result from a very healthy reaction to the society we live in

The few people who somehow manage to stay sane in this crazy world have distanced themselves from participating in societal norms.

They have understood the foolishness of comparing their lives with others and have created their own rules and expectations that govern their lives.

They distance themselves from almost anything, and everything we have been told is completely normal and can thus enjoy life as who they are.

While mental issues are a real thing, with both physical and psychological symptoms, many people who experienced mental issues could profit from asking the question:

Do I have mental issues, or do I have a completely healthy reaction to the sick society I live in?

As Victor Franckel, the Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist, philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor, put it:

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth, freedom and our happiness.”

― Viktor E. Frankl.

With every stimulus, there is a reaction, in physics, in nature, and we humans are no exception to that rule.

What are the stimuli(inputs) of societal norms, and what consequences/effects do they have on my mental health?

Mental health is not an issue, and it is a healthy reaction to harming everyday stimuli.

That space that Viktor Frankl talks about may seem like a small thing but make no mistakes. It affects all aspects of life― every single day.

For me, It has created a clearing in the dense forest of my life, allowing me to be present, recalibrate, make a choice, and know the difference between a life of conformity and one lived in freedom, peace, and growth.

To Recognize The Inherent Problems

There is no doubt that mental health is now our biggest social problem, bigger than unemployment and poverty.

We have created a society that glamorizes perfection, and most young people are slowly killing themselves in their quest to reach the impossible:

To be perfect and have the perfect life―whatever that means

Everywhere I go, I am bombarded with models and celebrities with perfect faces and bodies, posting one-sided stories of great triumph and fulfillment.

I am consistently presented with one perfect snapshot in time never telling me the truth:

There are no perfect people or life situations — including you and me.

This consumer society we have created has led us to compare the wrong things and forget that life is not a competition.

Comparison is the process mother expectations use when giving birth to disappointment.

The society we have created we now carry around in our pocket every waken moment, giving birth to comparison and disappointment.

While we can all fall prey to this vicious circle, externals are rarely a good measure of happiness, simply because happiness is not comparative but a consequence of our response to stimuli.

A New Approach To Mental Health

I want to invite you to take a new approach to mental health as an issue within society rather than the individual.

The current model we have created makes it nearly impossible for young people to achieve their full potential and if not adequately addressed, it will undoubtedly increase mental health issues.

The one thing I see happy people having in common is that they have successfully created their own "social recovery model," which is a holistic, person-centered approach to mental self-care.

They have taken the opposite approach of the perfect, comparative consumer society, allowing them to distance themself enough to achieve a peaceful and balanced life.

Questions I often think about are:

How can I create my own "social recovery model"?

Does how I measure up against others holds any value in my life?

I have found that measuring myself up against makes no difference because the aim in life is not to be better than "the perfect who have the perfect life."

The goal of life is to create the best version of me — NOT a replica of one perfect snapshot seen on Instagram.

Why? Because all types of comparisons shift my focus away from me to the wrong person.

There is only one focus in life, one life I can control — The only focus is me and my life.

Summary

The current approach on mental health issues has to change focus from the individual to the society we are all co-founders of.

Our obsession with material possessions leads young people to experience decreased life satisfaction, happiness, energy, and social connection: increasing anxiety and antisocial behavior.

This is nothing new. It goes as far back as 1807; William Wordsworth talked about "getting and spending" — It promotes unhappiness because it takes time away from the things that nurture happiness, including relationships with family and friends, and he was onto something.

Today we have a lot of research to back up his statement.

We often compare the wrong things, shifting our focus from the most important thing we would like to do, producing a person we no longer recognize in the mirror

Chasing after perfection and material wealth is not only interfering with our social life but creating mental health issues that were unheard of 30 years ago.

Research shows that when we organize our lives around extrinsic goals such as a perfect image or product acquisition, we become unhappy in relationships, have a hard time regulating our mod, and experience more psychological problems.

Material things are neither bad nor good. The conflict lies in the role and status I let them play in my life, highly influenced by the current social model I encounter on the internet and social media.

The key to my mental health is to find a balance: to appreciate what I have, but not at the expense of the things that matter to me — my family, community, and my personal development.

Mental health issues are not the problem — They are healthy reactions to the sick society we live in, and as long as we don't address it for what it is, we will keep creating more of the same

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