Now more than ever, people are beginning to realize the importance of mental health. While stigma against mental illness persists, these taboos seem to be loosening as people begin to have uncomfortable conversations regarding their own mental health and the treatment of others with mental illness. What escapes many discussions of mental health, however, is its intrinsic link to the healthcare system at large.
Though greater attention has certainly been paid to the subject in the past few years, the language of self care (“treat yo self”) has quickly been absorbed by corporations to encourage greater consumption rather than self-reflection and overall mental wellness. Self care has little value when divorced from concepts of community support and mutual aid, when many Americans cannot afford therapy, counseling or other forms of mental healthcare. Mental healthcare is as important as visiting your primary care physician or doctor. We tend to neglect our mental health in the name of productivity, and charge through our days to line somebody else’s pocket with little concern for our own well being.
The culture of the grind, an unfortunate residual of Recession-era economic insecurity, has raised worker productivity while wages remain largely stagnant and mental health is steadily on the decline. A 2018 report from the Economic Policy Institute found that productivity has grown at a rate of six times more than wages since 1979.
Solving the crisis of mental health will require much more than an individual commitment to self care, but a structural change that provides treatment to all regardless of income, promotes solidarity and community engagement in order to destigmatize mental illness, and engenders a culture that values health over wealth. In a world governed by anything other than greed, healthcare would be right, not a business. Yet here we are. The callous profiteering off the pain of an ailing people is the sign of a sick society.
Issues of mental health are not isolated, but intimately connected to issues of labor, healthcare and more. As our cultural approach to mental health changes, so too must we change our approach to the attendant systems of disenfranchisement.
