chibamSenior Contributor
Mental Problems vs. Life Problems - There Is Still So Much Confusion
Things have changed a lot since I first started taking notice of the public dialog about mental illness/mental health. In those days, all anyone ever talked about was "mental illness" - specifically referring to something that was causing the brain to not work right.
But since then, there had been much more recognition that the causes of many supposed cases of "mental illness" are actually real world problems, and not some sort of malfunction in the brain. We've even gone so far that many official documents are openly proclaiming that "mental health" and suicide should be handled as completely separate issues now, as quite often, the people who attempt/commit suicide are completely sane.
Few people would deny that the original concept of "mental illness" - that some people are depressed, anxious, suicidal, paranoid, ect. because something has gone wrong in their brains - is at least somewhat true. Many people do suffer in these ways in part or in whole because of some internal problem. But we are starting to recognize that, in many cases, the sufferers brain is not malfunctioning and that it does not need any sort of treatment, because the real problem is elsewhere.
However, this new awareness is often becoming muddied and confusing to a lot of people. I had a conversation just the other day that made me realize we still have a long way to go before we're all on the same page.
I read this SANE factsheet earlier, to try to get some sense of where we are in terms of the official literature these days. And it concerns me a bit that there's only a fleeting mention of real-world problems, that doesn't lead to a more substantial discussion.
When these feelings persist − but don't seem to have a cause that justifies them − and interfere with the ability to lead and enjoy everyday life...
Then it gets even more confusing a little further down, in the section addressing the importance of Support in the Community; as it leans upon one of the most ambiguous and therefore meaningless phrases of our time: "psychosocial disability". There's not even anything close to a consensus about what this terms means. I've seen numerous prominent people explain it in such a way that implies it requires both an actual mental illness (e.g. Schizophrenia) and a significant real-life problems (e.g. chronic unemployment). However, I've also seen prominent people imply that it can exclusively refer to a real-life problem; so if you are being bullied, that alone means you have a "psychosocial disability".
And this ambiguity is really relevant, because it contributes so badly to the mass confusion about whether a person's depression, suicidalness, anxiety, ect. may exclusively be caused by some real-world suffering they are undergoing.
Novices stumbling across that fact sheet looking for information will probably have no way of definitively understanding that jargon. But because of the connotations of that word, "disability", it may prime them to assume that there is some sort of internal fault within the person who is suffering, when that may not be the case at all. That, in turn, might lead them to try to steer the sufferer towards solutions that are geared towards correcting the person (e.g. medication, "talk therapies", ect.), when in fact the only remedy they really ought to be considdering is to eliminate the sufferer's real-life problem.
We are acknowledging that real-life problems are, quite often, the entire essence of a person's distress. But, from my recent observations, we don't seem to be acknowledging it enough, nor with enough clarity and detail. Because there are still a lot of people who seem to be convinced that depression, anxiety, suicidalness, ect. must - to at least some degree - indicate some sort of internal breakdown within the sufferer that needs to be "treated".
Which leads me to another bit of information on this SANE factsheet which, IMHO, is probably quite (unintentionally) misleading. Namely, the subject heading: "You can’t just ‘snap out of’ a mental health issue".
This is certainly true, as is the contents of that entire section of the page. But I'm starting to get the impression that people are misunderstanding the meaning of that phrase. Specifically, I think people are misinterpreting it to mean that there are no straightforward fixes to mental health problems.
No, you can't just "snap out of" being suicidally depressed about being lonely. But you can be rapidly and effectively cured of it by entering into a meaningful new relationship with someone. You can't just "snap out of" your chronic anxiety that your spouse is going to beat you up again. But you can have that anxiety largely (or perhaps entirely) alleviated by being taken out of that violent household; and having safeguards applied to insure you never encounter your abuser again.
Often our grief does have relatively straightforward solutions. But unfortunately, many people have been lead to believe that it doesn't. So instead of taking any interest in actually fixing our problems, they push "mental health" treatments upon us that do nothing to try to fix the real problems. Hence we get nowhere, fast; and our problems persist and typically get worse and worse.
Which brings me to a few of the other common catchphrases that really drives me nuts:
"You shouldn't try to help them..""You can't help them..."
"Don't try to 'fix the problem', you should just sit there and listen..."
And I apologize to the forum regulars, because I know I've ranted and raved about this one several times before; but it apparently bears repeating.
Once again, I'm not denying that there's sound reasoning behind these statements, nor am I denying that, in many circumstances, they are really good advice.
But we need to make it clear to the public that there are also a lot of circumstances where this is disastrously bad advice! And that anyone who is getting involved with another person's grief really needs to determine what sort of problem the person is suffering, and whether or not real-life help is called for. Because it often is! Sometimes, you really should do your best to try to fix the suffering person's problem!
Once again, I'm not denying or belittling the experiances of people who really do have mental illnesses; nor the appropriateness of the treatments they engage in. Mental illness is a real thing, and therefore, treatments that are geared towards correcting the brains of the sufferers are valid, in such circumstances.
But we need to acknowledge that serious, long-term bouts of mental suffering via depression, anxiety, sucidalness, or any of a dozen other enduring negative emotions, are often solely caused by some sort of real-life crisis, with no malfunction going on in the brain whatsoever. And that often such cases of distress can be easily and effectively cured, if only someone takes the time to eliminate the real-world problem that's causing it.
Set your lonely single neighbor up with a boyfriend who she is highly compatable with.
Go down to your kid's school and get the staff to shut down the bullies who keep labelling him "fat piggy" all over social media. Make the bullying stop.
Arrange a decent job for your chronically unemployed sister-in-law, that helps her achieve her career goals.
Offer a loan to your financially-struggling coworker; or, if you can't manage that, seek out some way they can get the money they need to tie themselves over.
Help your teammate who's stuck in an unhappy household intergrate into a new, better-fitting household.
Or, if you can't be bothered sticking your neck out for your suffering acquaintance, then don't.
Just don't go making out that their grief is primarily in their head, and that it's their brain that needs to be corrected; or that they just need a professional to browbeat them into "coping" with their distressing lives. Because often the problem is nowhere near their brains. Their brains are perfectly fine.
Fix the life problem and you fix the grief. I can't say it any plainer then that.
That's not an answer for every case of distress; but we need to make it well known that it is the best answer for a great many cases of distress.
Because, from what I've seen recently, there are still far too many people who just cannot look past the brain.
