Health?
I listened this morning to Terry Gross interview a psychiatrist and a psychologist about the increasing number of college students who are experiencing serious mental illness symptoms. In fact, both reported that each had a child who had struggled with mental illness. There are also a number of people in and out of college who are struggling with addiction. We are all aware of the enormous number of deaths related to drug addiction, the large number of people in jail, many of whom have mental illness including addiction, and the seeming increase in sexual abuse of children. There seems to be a variety of factors contributing to these facts. Terry Gross and her guests were discussing a very limited slice of this overall group. They were discussing those who are intellectually and other wise “blessed” with the resources to even consider expensive tuition plus room, board and spending money.
The cost of attending college in and of itself puts a lot of pressure on young people to achieve. Achievement or success is often defined in terms of making good grades, possibly going on to graduate or professional school and then working to pay off school loans and be self-supporting. I also suspect that there is pressure to have symbols of success such as a large house, a certain car, new furniture, the right clothes and the resources to ensure that one’s children can repeat this pattern and possibly “move on up” whatever that means. In the seventies, long before tuition was this expensive there was a movement towards dropping out of the rat race. A number of people experimented with starting intentional communities, a few of which are still in existence. Success for most of these communities was defined in terms of spiritual (occasionally religious) principles. Resources and labor, including child care, were shared. Obviously if all or a majority had taken this route the environment might have been in better shape, but I am not sure that infrastructure would be in any better shape.
Some have suggested in this and other countries there is a political, economic, and health crisis. I think those are the symptoms and not the “dis ease”. I think increasingly there is a disconnection from one’s core self (core self?), each other and the rest of nature. Religion no longer offers the solace that it once did. Many may still be hoping that the peace and sense of purpose will be found in religion but increasingly it seems that is not the case. For some, a more expansive view of the God of one’s understanding may be found in such programs of recovery as the 12 step programs. Especially in larger cities there may be gatherings of those exploring Buddhist, Hindu or some other religion/philosophy. Some may have the means to live in a planned retirement community such as The Village in Florida or even expensive clubs such as Mar a Lago where like-minded 1 percenters can massage each other’s ego. Even there, however, on will find mental illness and a sense of lostness/disconnection.
Some are discovering that one can be financially independent by attending trade school or being apprenticed. Some of these might discover the learned trade gives them a sense of purpose and connection. Many will not. Some adjust to working 40 hours or more and packing a lot of family time and social purpose into two days a week or 2/7th of a week.
I am not sure that we as parents and teachers believe that the primary purpose of school is to teach skills to be used in crafting a purposeful life. I am not sure that many classroom discussions focus on exploring a direction and sense of purpose for the human race. If one’s goal is to make money, one then has to ask how money will improve the quality of one’s life; help one leave a footprint of which one is proud. If the goal is to make more money to buy more stuff at what point does one discover that stuff does not fill the internal void. Then one has to worry about non-polluting ways of disposing of stuff so that one can buy more stuff.
What is mental health? What is mental illness?
Written May 29, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
I listened this morning to Terry Gross interview a psychiatrist and a psychologist about the increasing number of college students who are experiencing serious mental illness symptoms. In fact, both reported that each had a child who had struggled with mental illness. There are also a number of people in and out of college who are struggling with addiction. We are all aware of the enormous number of deaths related to drug addiction, the large number of people in jail, many of whom have mental illness including addiction, and the seeming increase in sexual abuse of children. There seems to be a variety of factors contributing to these facts. Terry Gross and her guests were discussing a very limited slice of this overall group. They were discussing those who are intellectually and other wise “blessed” with the resources to even consider expensive tuition plus room, board and spending money.
The cost of attending college in and of itself puts a lot of pressure on young people to achieve. Achievement or success is often defined in terms of making good grades, possibly going on to graduate or professional school and then working to pay off school loans and be self-supporting. I also suspect that there is pressure to have symbols of success such as a large house, a certain car, new furniture, the right clothes and the resources to ensure that one’s children can repeat this pattern and possibly “move on up” whatever that means. In the seventies, long before tuition was this expensive there was a movement towards dropping out of the rat race. A number of people experimented with starting intentional communities, a few of which are still in existence. Success for most of these communities was defined in terms of spiritual (occasionally religious) principles. Resources and labor, including child care, were shared. Obviously if all or a majority had taken this route the environment might have been in better shape, but I am not sure that infrastructure would be in any better shape.
Some have suggested in this and other countries there is a political, economic, and health crisis. I think those are the symptoms and not the “dis ease”. I think increasingly there is a disconnection from one’s core self (core self?), each other and the rest of nature. Religion no longer offers the solace that it once did. Many may still be hoping that the peace and sense of purpose will be found in religion but increasingly it seems that is not the case. For some, a more expansive view of the God of one’s understanding may be found in such programs of recovery as the 12 step programs. Especially in larger cities there may be gatherings of those exploring Buddhist, Hindu or some other religion/philosophy. Some may have the means to live in a planned retirement community such as The Village in Florida or even expensive clubs such as Mar a Lago where like-minded 1 percenters can massage each other’s ego. Even there, however, on will find mental illness and a sense of lostness/disconnection.
Some are discovering that one can be financially independent by attending trade school or being apprenticed. Some of these might discover the learned trade gives them a sense of purpose and connection. Many will not. Some adjust to working 40 hours or more and packing a lot of family time and social purpose into two days a week or 2/7th of a week.
I am not sure that we as parents and teachers believe that the primary purpose of school is to teach skills to be used in crafting a purposeful life. I am not sure that many classroom discussions focus on exploring a direction and sense of purpose for the human race. If one’s goal is to make money, one then has to ask how money will improve the quality of one’s life; help one leave a footprint of which one is proud. If the goal is to make more money to buy more stuff at what point does one discover that stuff does not fill the internal void. Then one has to worry about non-polluting ways of disposing of stuff so that one can buy more stuff.
What is mental health? What is mental illness?
Written May 29, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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