My Support Forums - View Single Post

nonightowl · Nov 17, 2014, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ididitmyway

The ills of the society such as poverty, social injustices, discrimination etc are a great contributing factor in developing mental illness if not the major one. Our environment shapes our brain chemistry. The "genes" theory has no scientific prove whatsoever and yet it's being pushed on people by the mass media.

You may appreciate this article on the subject Capitalism is My ?Mental Illness? | Love Moves You

Also watch videos of Dr. Gabor Mate, who explains the connection between mental problems of individuals and the environment they live in.

Jiddu Krishnamurti, I think, once said: "You can't make someone healthy by helping them to adjust to the sick society" and ours is a sick society. If we want to get better individually, we can't do it without changing the society as a whole.

I agree....American culture is very pragmatic, shallow, and materialistic.

There's pressure to succeed at work and to work, long hard hours.

We live in a culture that believe anything is possible with hard work, and that's a myth. "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps." Therefore, a lot of people think depression is an attitude problem, not a medical one. It's like any other condition that people are more "accepting" of, such as high-blood pressure.

Single people are under pressure or expectations to get married and have babies.

Older people are expected to be retired and live in houses, not apartments.

Everything is so fast-paced, and the cost of everything just keeps going up. But not wages.

People struggle just to have their basic needs met like food & shelter, yet the emotional needs are just as important. I could go on & on, but I think the gist of it is there.