Mental Illness – Personal or Societal Issue?

| marandarussell

Do you ever stop to wonder if the exploding rates of mental illness might signify that there isn’t a personal issue going on with many people, but instead, a societal or lifestyle issue? The pandemic has shown without a doubt that outside influences can make huge differences in collective mental health. The isolation, the fear of the virus, the missing out on all the things you love to do – these affected us hugely in the past couple years.

Even before the pandemic though, mental illness had been a steadily growing problem. Most of the time the medical establishment treats it all as a personal issue. You must have a chemical imbalance, a mood disorder, or you are doing things wrong and somehow causing your own problems. But what if WE aren’t causing the problem? What if the system is?

In our world, people have become increasingly isolated and lonely, way before the pandemic started. The internet has brought some great things, but it has also made it so that we rely less on real, local community. We were made to be tribal, group animals, but many of us have lost our tribe long ago. Even when we try to build a sense of community, I feel like many of us have no idea how to go about doing that in our disconnected, busy, hustle culture.

We also live in a world where many people are forced to work ridiculous hours at jobs they hate just to survive. And then they barely survive at that. They are swimming in debt and praying nothing major goes wrong between paychecks. Corporations are treated better and are often given more rights than us. We are told to consume and we will feel better, but that only leads to emptiness and more debt.

If you happen to be disabled, like me, you are often made to feel like you are a drain on society and are weak and useless. Depending on the disability, you can become even more isolated and lonely. Many of us have few close family ties to begin with, and frequently, family members and friends eventually end up moving away from each other so they can get a good job and survive.

And don’t even get me started on the corruption, genocide, and other downright criminal activity the government leeches off us to support. Or how we are out of touch with the natural world around us, and even worse, destroying it at a rapid rate.

Maybe it isn’t you. Maybe it isn’t me. Maybe it is all of us, and maybe it is time we make some huge changes.

43 thoughts on “Mental Illness – Personal or Societal Issue?”

  1. These thoughts are so powerful! I’ve shared to both my Facebook and my Twitter because the content of this blog post needs to get out there! Thank you for making me furrow my eyebrows in thought!

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  3. Maranda, I appreciate this discussion’s approach. No matter our overall mental, emotional, and physical state, these past several months have altered our once reliable landscape to resemble more like huge craters on the Moon. Now, it is just as challenging searching again for that familiar landscape. Blessings to you.

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  4. Maranda, well-reasoned, and well-expressed. ❤ I think we have learned many things from the pandemic. Some people will be happier because they have a new appreciation of family time and the satisfaction of new hobbies and skills learned. Ordinary people have stepped up to perform heroic and charitable acts during the pandemic. Some people have lost their jobs and homes and will have to rebuild their careers, finances, and lifestyle. Grief over lives lost will be with us for a long time.

    One thing that greatly amuses me is the new appreciation of in-person school. As a teacher, I listened for years to those who predicted that technology would make teachers secondary to computers or even obsolete. 🙂

    I think that we have an opportunity here to remake our personal lives and our society for the better. We all need to work together for positive change… a cleaner environment, less racism and violence, strengthening the middle class, rebuilding infrastructure… and yes, better personal and collective mental health.

    Thank you for this thoughtful, thought-provoking post. All the best! ❤

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  5. Good points, I agree that it is not individual, but for some decades now it is looking more like social and political environment, as well as physical environment affecting us.

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  8. Everything you mentioned here is why my mission is to be a beacon of light and change. Our world is in desperate need of it! I believe that hope is rising because many more of us feel this way. Power to the people 💥❤🙏

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  11. ThanK you for speaking out on this subject. I do think that society plays a larger role in mental health than they are willing to admit. While like you I do agree that the internet has given us a lot of good it has also taken just as much it not more. We as a whole need to be more cognizant of the people around us.
    I will be sharing this on my social media and blog (reclaimingmyreality.com) because I feel this is a hot topic

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  12. Pingback: Mental Illness – Personal or Societal Issue? - Reclaiming My Reality

  13. 💜 As Ever Wise Woman with Wise Words (don’t ask her age; she’ll knock you out); more seriously SHE!!! is mostly RIGHT!!!…this is coming from a Divorcee with Psychiatric Conditions that Prompted His Wife to Leave The Marriage; funnily enough after The Initial Few Years Turmoil I AM Happily Single in My Place of Love, In Joy and At Peace…in a Word ‘Experience’; it’s Confusing but at The End/Beginning Understandable…it is NOW!!! that I Understand My Angelic Purpose Here; a Few Nights Ago I Asked To Be Dead (NEVER!!! Gonna Commit Suicide) and I Was Told in No UnCertain Terms “NO!!! We Have Come This Far and YOU!!! still Have a Job To Do.”…suffice to Say, I AM Still Here Doing My Job; the Difference Between Me and Other Angels is My Time is My Own and I Have NO!!! Earthly Distractions Due to Letting Go Having Admitted, Acknowledged and Addressed My MMHI (Multiple Mental Health Issues)…so I Hope y’all Do Too; it’s Crystal Clear Clarity to Me that The Ascension Team Builds ItSelf

    …💛💚💙…

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      1. 💜 YOU!!! Most Welcome SupaSoulSis; it’s a Pleasure to Share and Serve, Stay Strong and Serene

        …💛💚💙…

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  19. The points you have made in this post are so valid! We are told there is something wrong with us on the inside for suffering with mental health but our surroundings and environment are often overlooked as being the cause.

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  20. Pingback: Mental Illness – Personal or Societal Issue? – AKYEMANSA ROYALS
  21. Pingback: Mental Illness – Personal or Societal Issue? – Anzeela Soomro

  22. I agree with this. I am in introvert that suffers from bipolar disorder. I was fine with not going out because I don’t “people” well but that meant that my daughter didn’t have to physically go to school which added to some of my stress. I literally just got discharged from the hospital Tuesday because of SI. I was ready to exit this place. But I’m still here. I have had MDD and then bipolar disorder was added in 2008. I have a psychiatrist and therapist. I had them since that time but the meds seemed to stop working. I think about this subject all the time. Those of us that have been suffering have wanted this dialogue for a long time now. Thank you for this.

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    1. Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts! I really appreciate it! The more I think about this issue, the more convinced I become that it is becoming more and more of a societal issue rather than just a personal one.

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