08/22/2022
This is šÆ true in my estimation of mental healthā¦..
Mental health issues are the result of human beings expected to exist within environments that are dysfunctional or abnormal. Weāve been conditioned to believe that dysfunctional family dynamics, dysfunctional work dynamics, + dysfunctional political systems are just āhow it is.ā If a person is sick or canāt cope then we diagnose them as disordered. We tell people their sickness is a result of their own āchemical imbalance.ā (Of course our entire bodies have imbalances!)
Some therapists even downplay, invalidate, or downright dismiss childhood trauma. (And yes, disconnecting from your true self to fit into an unwell society *is* a trauma.) Not understanding the forever impact on the childās psyche, their sense of sense worth, their ability to emotionally educate, + the way theyāll relate to the world. Not understanding that their nervous system will be hyper vigilantā consistently sensing threats in the environment. Not understanding this puts them at an incredibly high risk of addiction in a desperate attempt to self soothe. We have yet to understand addiction itself is a symptom.
This will just be labeled as panic disorder, or depression. Or, possibility a āpersonality disorder.ā Instead of what they are: adaptations to unsafe environments.
We need a revolutionary shift in the way we view mental health. As people get more + more sick we continue to search for bandaids so that people can get just āokā enough to return to work or life as they know itā when thatās the issue. Life as we know it is making us sick. And until we face this we will just have more + more sick people.
We need to start waking up. To start asking people āwhat happened to you at the most impressionable time in your life?ā We need to start affirming that what is normal in our society isnāt ok. Our bodies are gifting us with wisdom when we develop mental disorders, autoimmune issues, & other illness. Weāve had enough. The answer isnāt to push through. Itās to re-evaluate. To listen to peopleās stories (rather than invalidating them) & to understand that humans are struggling for valid reasons that we shouldnāt be pathologizing