People who are mildly depressed have more realistic views than those who aren’t. Facts only. Mental illness indirectly affects all Canadians at some time through a family member, friend or colleague. Facts only. Suicide accounts for 24% of all deaths among 15 to 24 year olds. Facts only.
Herein lies a triple paradox. Mental illness is pervasive, it is in some specific ways beneficial, and it is a serious concern that urgently requires communities and institutions to combat its destructive consequences on our brothers and sisters around the globe.
So global is this phenomenon that the World Health Organization has reported that 20% of the world’s children and adolescents have mental disorders or problems. When you say mental illness, though, most of us go straight to the big ones: schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and autism.
Truth is it exists in all forms—the scope is immense: from anxiety and depression, to substance abuse and anorexia, as well as bipolar disorder and Down Syndrome. All are part of a complex interplay of the biology of personal and environmental contexts. For example, schizophrenia is connected to the shape of your mouth, and depression, yeah that’s connected to low fish intake. Anxiety makes everything stink for its victims. Shit doesn’t make sense, and yet these afflictions are the leading cause of disability worldwide.
What’s worse: Almost one half (49%) of those who feel they have suffered from depression or anxiety have never gone to see a doctor about this problem. Even worse: Globally, there is huge inequity in the distribution of skilled human resources for mental health. Worst of all: Mental illnesses are more common than cancer, diabetes, or heart disease.
But….
More than 2/3 of people in North America who have a mental illness live in their original communities and lead productive lives.This is because 70 to 90% of people with mental illnesses experience a significant reduction of symptoms and an improved quality of life, with proper care and treatment.
So where do we stand?
Should mental health be conceived of as a problem in need of a solution?
Does the fact that we have developed ways for those afflicted by the pernicious hitches symptomatic of mental disorder provide a reason to label its victims as mentally ill?
Is it reason for our pity?
Or is the problem us?
Is it the way we have historically considered consciousness? The way we have subjugated and separated those whom we considered to have an altered sense of reality? After all, as I said when we began: if depressive realism is empirically proven does the onus not, in some sense, fall on us?
Graphite is contesting these mental borders, and reconsidering our historical relationship with mental health.
The politics of mental health: integration, institutions, and innovation will be tackled. For example, how societies deal with such matters, and how these are dealt with differently depending on country. How do we treat those suffering from its consequences and what does that say about ourselves? Does different mean illness?
Art and mental health: a peanut butter and jelly like amalgamation. From Van Gogh to Kanye West, art has often served as an argument for and exhibition of mental health as altered reality and not illness.
But how about the science? Prognoses, the basis for recognizing and treating mental health problems, are shape shifting, becoming at once both more common and more exact while also being highly contested and uncertain.
A lot of cats out there, yours truly included, have personal relationships with various situations dealing with mental health. Some of us have a sister with autism, helped not cured by musical therapy. Others have experienced it within themselves; it’s an interesting and life-altering moment when you first realize that you are diverging mentally. “I’m more depressed”, “oh I just realized how anxious I’m becoming”. These things work through spectrums; realization is conditioned as a result of others and also within the individual.
What mental illness is, or even if it is illness at all, has and will continue to change over time. Mental health and its borders have been a historical battleground for ideas about who we are, what it means to be normal, and what is important to us. Like a mirror: sharp, straight to the point, and uncomfortably honest, its reflections have tended to tell us difficult truths about ourselves and our communities, forcing us to acknowledge and elucidate a collective heart of darkness that is ever so slowly being ‘cured’, or simply understood.
That is to say, mental health issues have tended to bring out our own mental illnesses as much, if not more, than those who have been societally diagnosed with them.
Peace and Love,
Kasimir X
Photo credit:http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-29016340
