A discourse on mental illness

PRELUDE

PROLOGUE

I heard a story once about a kingdom where the town's water was contaminated and as a result the people slowly went mad. Story has it that it was Ergot or something similar and caused mass hysteria among the denizens. As the palace was built around a spring the King, his family and servants enjoyed crystal clear water. As the township continued its descent into madness the kings reign withered. The people disobeyed him because they could not understand him. As his servants would venture into town on errands sometimes they would be exposed to the madness-inducing water of the towns river. After some investigation by the Kings court it was narrowed down to the water supply at which time the King took leave from his palace to drink with the townspeople. As fate would have it he too was driven mad by the water, and suffering from the same mania as the rest of the folk he was able to restore order over his now slightly more deranged kingdom.

PRELUDE

In a world where big pharma is now marketing Xanax to children through 3 minute ads disguised as music videos we are certainly living in a post-televison age. The Orwellian box that observes the viewer has been introduced so gradually and disguised as necessity that some seem to abandon such fanciful inbuilt features like neural memory storage in favor of is now actual fact. Human beings seem more interested in subserviently fighting among scraps to survive instead of demanding more from the folks in the ivory towers. We reify the most abhorrent features of the personality and reward folk who act unscrupulously with riches and abundance while those who choose a life free of slavery or abuse are shunned as derelicts and destitute. Its no surprise that the countries with the largest wealth disparity are also those with the worst rates of mental health.

PART I ECONOMIC DEPRESSION DISGUISED AS MENTAL HEALTH

If a sovereign being is not able to afford to watch a film at the local cinema or buy smashed avocado once a month for breakfast with their friends then one could easily empathize if they discovered that individual had low self esteem. Or a child raised within a lower socio-economic demographic on a rubbish diet of carbohydrates and saturated fats again one could empathize with their image related self esteem issues.

Infact according to Mazlow's heirarchy of needs we the conditions which allow us to achieve self-actualization and begin to act truly autonomously and charitably are very precise and if any number of elements is out of balance in the developing mind the individual can be left with life long trauma inhibiting their ability to reach a state of consciousness that allows one to think outside of oneself. As the fabric of society is stripped away by funding cuts to public sectors and we rely on private vendors to deliver basic goods and services to those entitled enough to afford them we watch mental-and physical-illness rise dramatically.

Extrapolating on these concepts one may arrive at the conclusion that depression -with exception of course- is categorically an economic state and not at all a mental illness. Should one be abundant enough in whatever it is they are most passionate about and excited to share with their community they shall have some sense of purpose and belonging and a society that rewards altruism and philanthropy instead of greed and apathy will certainly be one that naturally encourages and fosters mental health within its people.

PART II THE LIQUID DYNAMIC OF A BELL SHAPED CURVE

With the shift in recent years especially accelerated if not propagated by organizations and social media platforms like Facebook away from face-to-face communication as a necessity for daily existence the cases of mental illness are increasing. Narcissistic and nihilistic attitudes towards quite serious events on the world stage are encouraged whilst we are trained to recognize our social media platform interface as a part of our identity. In a world not so long forgotten empathy and compassion were bang on in the center of the bell shaped curve. One can self-actualize? Great! You're healthy. A quick chat to the doctor and 'Whats that? Tales of terror and war upset you? You're normal And about the pain you feel when you see a cripple begging on the street? That's called empathy'. Now with the connectivity of 1/3 of the world to the internet its quite clear why the rhetoric has changed, lets try it 21st century style.  Whats that? Tales of terror and war funded and orchestrated by a hegemony held up by your tax dollar scare you? Take this pill. You're mentally ill. I'm tired of seeing all those panhandling chimpanzees out there too. Throw 'em all in a cage. I was about to have you sectioned as I thought you were going to say you empathize with them, hahahaa'. Thanks Doc. 

So when the health industry was opened up to privatization it was exploited by big pharma who colluded with -who else but- big food, big media, big guns, and big pricks to bring you the brand new mental health scheme. If you question it you're a crazy conspiracy theorist and we got special drugs for people as deranged as yourself.

PART IV OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND NEUROSIS

As Grant Morrison put it so succinctly in is Disinformation lecture the logical conclusion of the individual is neurosis. Only through connecting with our families, friends, neighbours, service attendants, the derelicts, the vagabonds, even the aliens whomever they may be and whatever race, creed or nationality can we start to heal the suture in the collective mind resulting from the last 100 years of neo-colonialism. In a purely individualistic society the people elect to give away their civil rights to authoritarian forces in exchange for not having to involve themselves in community issues. And for that fact, short of an impossibly perfect utopian a society no doubt at times people will slip through the cracks of the mental illness framework and terrible things may happen as a result. And in that situation it is up to every individual within that society to accept a level of responsibility, whether it be through ignorance, alienation, apathy or encouragement., and not place the enitrity of blame onto the individual who also is a victim of circumstance. Bearing in mind the go-to antidepressant these days is SSRI which is linked to most -if not all- school shootings in the USA. By embarking on a witch hunt and refusing to examine their own level of responsibility and demand from their leaders immediate increased and socialized mental health spending the people are aiding and abetting the real mentally deranged criminals, the CEOs and shareholders of big pharma, private prisons, and hospitals.

EPILOGUE

As we descend further into individualistic hell, where we live to serve only the machine who masquerades as a shard of our own identity whilst barely even providing us the resources to even fuel our fragile bodies it is clear the only solution is to unite, to galvanize and together call the king down from the palace. Barricade the palace doors if we must. Sit together at the river until the king can come and sit at the polluted water of empathy and compassion. The words of the great Mario Savio ring truer now than ever.