I've noticed people who push this narrative of "not enough access to mental health" get very uncomfortable and dismissive when one points out that compared to most of the world, there is more than enough support and access, yet in many of these supposedly poor countries with poor "mental health" services, people generally tend to be more well-adjusted, happier, and don't see themselves as depressed or having some other disorder. I think people don't like to admit that the way of life in many developed countries is simply not conducive to health or happiness, and these "inferior", less developed countries get a few things right: proper diet adequate to actual energy needs, physical activity, close-knit healthy social groups (ties to family, community, friends) instead of isolation and extreme individualism, lack of rampant consumerism.
As the director of a large psychotherapy practice, I know that there are insufficient resources - either privately or in the public sector. I don't want to argue against the provision of more. But the idea that providing more services will resolve a crisis is likely false, as the lack of services does not explain why demand rises. I believe, as I lay out in the video, that we are not in a mental health crisis, we are in a cultural crisis: The society we have created is not serving an increasing proportion of the people in the population. Bandaging things up with post-hoc therapy will not resolve this.
Love this! (Well said, and so true.)
I've noticed people who push this narrative of "not enough access to mental health" get very uncomfortable and dismissive when one points out that compared to most of the world, there is more than enough support and access, yet in many of these supposedly poor countries with poor "mental health" services, people generally tend to be more well-adjusted, happier, and don't see themselves as depressed or having some other disorder. I think people don't like to admit that the way of life in many developed countries is simply not conducive to health or happiness, and these "inferior", less developed countries get a few things right: proper diet adequate to actual energy needs, physical activity, close-knit healthy social groups (ties to family, community, friends) instead of isolation and extreme individualism, lack of rampant consumerism.
As the director of a large psychotherapy practice, I know that there are insufficient resources - either privately or in the public sector. I don't want to argue against the provision of more. But the idea that providing more services will resolve a crisis is likely false, as the lack of services does not explain why demand rises. I believe, as I lay out in the video, that we are not in a mental health crisis, we are in a cultural crisis: The society we have created is not serving an increasing proportion of the people in the population. Bandaging things up with post-hoc therapy will not resolve this.
In the UK, we don't have a mental health service worth funding