what if the rise of mental illness is the result of an economic system that actively seeks to reduce the availability of things which keep our minds in a healthy stasis, like community, fulfillment, purpose, so those things can be sold back to us like a carrot on a stick
@bob Capitalism adds conditionality and impermanance to all things - things that should be a given in order to maintain mental wellbeing (family, community, a purpose, a home) are all made conditional on wealth which itself is constantly in flux
@Cocoron I highly doubt there's a conscious conspiracy behind it, but I do agree that the rest is certainly part of the problem. Mental illness is on the rise, I believe, because humans are not living as we are biologically meant to. We are meant to be living a slow-paced life as hunter-gatherers or farmers, and living in small, tight-knit communities revolving around a shared way of life and general worldview.
@Cocoron Watch the TED talk "the paradox of choice" for a better way of thinking about this. It's a bit more upsetting.
@Cocoron I think a part of it is that mental health as a private service has dictated its own cost for so long that it looks financially impractical to allow into public health coverage, despite being easily as necessary as the availability of medical doctors via walk-in clinics, GPs.
Am canadian, have health care. Utterly horrified by our lack of mental health care.
@Cocoron
I have this thought daily.
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*That* is what I call an interesting insight.
@Cocoron thank you for putting this so well, I've been having trouble articulating this sort of thought
@Cocoron Actually... it is both biological and environmental. Getting rid of capitalism would not solve a thing when it comes to this matter. I guess it could reduce drug addiction and thus indirectly lead to less becoming ill.. but find it unlikely.
What is needed is health care and people being observant... talking about it and not shy away from the subject.
@shellkr One of the things worth keeping in mind is that what is an illness can depend on the distress caused. A capitalist system where a broken resume, say, can lead to your inability to find any kind of gainful employment and thus be unable to provide for yourself can turn what might be a few transient episodes into a life-long problem amplified by poverty and insecurity. @Cocoron
@Azure @Cocoron The intension with my post was to elevate the biological side of the issue. It is a bit too simplistic to blame a economical system for it. Sure, it is a stressor but people will be depressed, autistic, bipolar or schizophrenic no matter how good their socioeconomic status is. Nothing say a different economical system would fare any better.
@shellkr @Cocoron Oh! I didn't mean that. I agree with you, the biological role IS A THING.
The societal role was just something I've been interested in well. Bipolar individuals obviously had SERIOUS PROBLEMS in the past, but the higher degree of structure and regimentation in society seems to be why MORE unmedicated people seemed to do well in the past than they do now.
(Also probably because electric lights hurt the bipolar more than they do normal people.)
@Azure @Cocoron The biggest reason why we have a rise is because we are better at diagnosing them now. We talk about it more. It is also not as shameful as it was before. In the past, at least in Christian countries, your family would hide you (or worse) as much as possible from the world. A disabled child was thought a result of sinful parents.
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@Cocoron @Azure Before 1950 there was no real working treatment for mentally ill (except for ECT and Lobotomy). When the TCA medication came things started to change. We still relied heavily on institutionalization though. They had no rights. This didn't end until the 1990s. So normal citizens didn't come in contact with the ill the same way as we do now.
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@Azure @Cocoron
Today (or since the 1980s) we have pretty good treatments. Which enables people to be more open about it. Institutions has therefore shutdown more and more.. and the care is more in the open. As long as the ill eat their medication they can pretty much live at home and have a normal life. It is no different than any other disability.
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@Cocoron Makes me think of: The demoralized mind -- New Internationalist https://newint.org/columns/essays/2016/04/01/psycho-spiritual-crisis/
@Cocoron like directly cutting mh services ? also reporting/self-dx has gone way up as articulacy has become more accessible via online activism imo
However this doesn't mean there isn't a pressure to sell what you described as commodities, but it isn't new either, see "modern" advertisement dating back to the 50's.
@Cocoro I finished The Essential Chomsky yesterday and he made a related point that kind of stuck out to me about how mental illness is good for employers https://anticapitalist.party/media/ZFWT6fbQKhLNOD5WIkw
@Cocoron @HeckTheCistem Basically, capital is heavily incentivized to whatever will weaken labor's negotiating position, including making them physically and mentally sick, because that's how the rules are set up. This is why the rules need to change.
@Cocoron Well yes, but it's also a result of the priority disruption caused by the explosion in population resulting from the industrial revolution.