Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month: An In-Depth Review
Depression, loneliness, trauma, and suicide: silent epidemics plaguing millions across the world, especially in North America; and how we are preyed upon and divided instead of solving the issues.
Disclaimer:
The following content is difficult for some people to read or hear about due to topics of trauma, homelessness, poverty, anxiety, depression, sexual assault, and suicide; which can trigger a negative reaction within the consumer of this content.
Since mental health is declining significantly in the US and I am a US citizen with my own long history of mental health issues or assisting those with mental health issues, this topic will be largely centered on the conditions of mental health in the US.
This pieces will be long and often in depth, I didn’t expect that until I was midway writing it, but I encourage you for your own mental health and improvement, to read it in full and feel whatever you need to feel during it.
If your thoughts get too loud during reading this, because some of the topics in this article are very heavy, I encourge you to either take a break or skip to the bottom section “How Do We Solve This Issue?” for solutions before your brain tries to jump to extreme conclusions itself.
Mental Health and the Worsening of American Life:
One of the biggest contributing factors to the massive mental health epidemic is the rapidly worsening conditions of the US, especially for its poorest civilians. While mental health is affected by other factors, especially trauma, environment is a large factor to ones stress, anxiety, perception of love and relationships, financial struggle, etc.
Poverty and Homeless
Currently as of 2024, there is 37.9 million people, or 11.5%, struggling with poverty; however as of 2023, 78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, even if not quote on quote “being impoverished” they still worry about a missed paycheck dropping them into poverty or worse homelessness. The stress this kind of financial struggle can cause can create depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, alienation, and feelings of emptiness or “stuck in a rut” like you are wasting your life or time. There is also the topic of alienation like Marx talked about where you feel alienated from your work force, your production and society. To further prove the financial issue plays a significant role on one’s mental health, a survey of nearly 5,500 people with mental health issues, 86% of which said their financial situation made their mental health problems worse. Additionally, a survey (in 2022) from the American Psychological Association found that 87% of Americans say the rising prices of everyday items due to inflation is a significant source of stress. The numbers rise sharply as you go further down the financial levels, as homeless people suffer exceptionally high levels of PTSD, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc. In fact overall, 67% of homeless people currently have some form of mental illness, while 77% were found to have experienced mental illness at least sometime during their lives.
Mental Illness & Veterans
For Veterans, many of which already suffer mental illness from war, are suffering when they return to the states. For example the total number of Veterans who experienced homelessness as of 2023 was 35,574, which while it is 5.4% of the total homeless population, the fact that many Veterans are suffering homelessness despite all the resources available to them is concerning to say the least. In terms of Veteran mental health issues, around 5.2 million veterans experienced a behavioral health condition in 2020. However, more than half of veterans with a mental illness do not receive treatment within a given year.
Suicide
Now, and this is the a harder topic to cover, mental health issues is sadly taking many Americans, especially men, to the worse act of all; suicide. From 2000 to 2020, 78.7% of 800,000 total suicides was men. Men commit suicide 3.85% times more than women. Accounting for a total on the global suicide rate, someone dies from suicide every 40 seconds. While 79% of the world’s suicides occurred in low- & middle-income countries, high-income countries had the highest rate, at 11.5 per 100 000. Currently, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people. It takes a lot of mental anguish and trauma to reach the conclusion to take your life, and while many fail in their attempt, many are sadly successful. This is why the increasing mental health issues is so dangerous as it does not only cause an individual pain, it also leads them to taking their own life, which can also cause pain to others. An almost universal feeling people suffering with suicidal thoughts is “no one will be affected if I die” which was proven otherwise in 2019 by Julie Cerel, from the University of Kentucky and her team of researchers who found that up to 135 people are affected to some degree by every person lost to suicide. That number includes all people who have known the deceased. While suicidal thoughts can be overwhelming and feel like it doesn’t let up on the mind, there is ways to decrease the thoughts and reverse the depressive feelings that lead someone into them. Avoiding isolation, creating strong networks and communities especially among close friends, avoiding alcohol and drug use, trying new hobbies, working out, focusing on present enjoyable moments or activities; these are some of many ways you can improve your thoughts and depression, but for some it is very hard especially if you are homeless. However it is better to try and want to improve rather than let darkness eat you and destroy you when you often have the capability to reverse it. This however is not a fix all, and some people do have extremely low dopamine and serotonin levels that sometimes can’t be boosted by activity or changes in environment; and while I am critical of medications, big pharma, and don’t see them as a fix all for every situation, sometimes in extreme situations like this, they are a necessity. Always seek help before jumping to extremes, it is better to strive for a better future than letting darkness consume you.
The Manufactured Gender War as a Tool to Divide and Cause Pain:
Outside of financial issues, another issue that is sharply increasing mental health problems recently across the world and especially in America is the manufactured gender war that is raging mostly online. I am specifically referring to the debate podcasts, the ragebait content, the increasingly arrogant and especially hostile refusal to understand the issues between men and women; and it is on both end, with often the loudest being liberal leaning people vs the redpill or “manosphere” communities. They aren’t alone however as this gender war is, as I stated, manufactured and promoted by very influential and wealthy institutions who profit in some fashion (or multiple) from division and misunderstanding of the sexes.
Liberal & Radical Liberal Influencers
When we look at who is contributing to this division, lets start first with liberalism.
What is a radical liberal? The best explanation of Radical Liberal is from an article by Arkansas Worker on Marxism, Radlibs, and Utopian Socialists. In simplified terms, it is a liberal with radical positions or aesthetics. We usually see these as people who call themselves leftists but often uphold liberal beliefs, listen and regurgitate liberal narratives and institutions, or who act in the same self righteousness and sectarian behavior as liberals.
Modern American liberalism covers a lot of topics, like every political group. However the issue is 90% of the time they aren’t dealing with issues for the benefit of the common person, they are often arguing either in favor of the current status quo or they are arguing to feel a sense of self righteousness or elitism; often ignoring the emotions or conclusions a given people have due to a specific way of upbringing and environment relations. This is not just in relation to the sexes but also to politics, foreign policy, economics, etc. One of the biggest issues of liberal feminism in this regard is, among many things, the absolute refusal to build common ground and help healing between sexes when pain or misdirection due to propaganda has been inflicted on certain communities.
So when we see the divide being waged, why the liberals when the redpill community is a more defined & specific community? Why are liberals the other side of this manufactured conflict? Because liberalism is the dominant group that is both upheld by the status quo and is the primary group involved in much of the conversations or topics that the redpill community is involved with, even before the redpill community existed. Specifically, and they have been doing this for decades, both political communities (Liberals & Conservatives) target specific groups for their own objectives and goals. Liberals specifically targeting non-white communities, LGBT+, and women; and we can see this from either liberal propaganda and marketing, or by demographics.
Liberals have been targeting women ever since the 1970’s and even before, often infiltrating and taking over events that was originally hostile to liberalism, such as the Marxist led events of the 70’s and 80’s, and even recent events like Occupy where, while not specifically focused on women’s issues, did talk about the struggles of women’s ability to take care of themselves and their family while struggling with poverty.
Liberalism does NOT and NEVER had the answer to women’s problems: Similarly, they don’t even have the answers to men’s struggles. There is a large section of everyday men and boys who have experienced in some way pain or abandonment from either former lovers, friends, society or family and they don’t know why; but because their side isn’t answering them properly and they are connecting certain dots and patterns to other environmental relations, they are creating generalizations that no one is wanting to answer too except some people with malicious intentions. It also isn’t helping, as it usually doesn’t, to completely write off the whole of them as all part of the same toxic extremes of certain communities. Even if some of those do exist, because they do, you can’t combat generalization with generalization. That has never worked.
Many men and many boys can be talked with and answers given to assist them with their personal struggles and feelings of pain or abandonment. So yes, while women definitely have a lot of valid criticisms and concerns, so do a lot of men; answers and especially healing can not happen when both refuse to understand the other side, shout over each other, see each other as an opponent instead of someone in pain who needs to heal, and buckle down to their own internal biases instead of considering other evidence. I personally believe one of the best people to talk about both women’s pain and men’s pain fairly is Bell Hooks who wrote, especially in regards to men:
“It is not just men who do not take their pain seriously. Most women do not want to deal with male pain if it interferes with the satisfaction of female desire. When feminist movement led to men’s liberation, including male exploration of “feelings,” some women mocked male emotional expression with the same disgust and contempt as sexist men. Despite all the expressed feminist longing for men of feeling, when men worked to get in touch with feelings, no one really wanted to reward them.”
“To create loving men, we must love males. Loving maleness is different from praising and rewarding males for living up to sexist-defined notions of male identity. Caring about men because of what they do for us is not the same as loving males for simply being. When we love maleness, we extend our love whether males are performing or not. Performance is different from simply being. In patriarchal culture males are not allowed simply to be who they are and to glory in their unique identity. Their value is always determined by what they do. In an anti-patriarchal culture males do not have to prove their value and worth. They know from birth that simply being gives them value, the right to be cherished and loved.”
“This fear of maleness that they inspire estranges men from every female in their lives to greater or lesser degrees, and men feel the loss. Ultimately, one of the emotional costs of allegiance to patriarchy is to be seen as unworthy of trust. If women and girls in patriarchal culture are taught to see every male, including the males with whom we are intimate, as potential rapists and murderers, then we cannot offer them our trust, and without trust there is no love.”
“Usually adult males who are unable to make emotional connections with the women they chose to be intimate with are frozen in time, unable to allow themselves to love for fear that the loved one will abandon them.”
― Bell Hooks, The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love
I say this as a man who speaks for a lot of males, these quotes are exactly what a lot of men feel. Especially the hurt of feeling our feelings and not being acknowledged for it, being told to suppress the feelings and hurt as it eats us inside, wanting to be loved for simply being instead of always having to prove ourselves, wanting to have emotional connections without fear of our emotions being used against us or our love damaged when we are abandoned, wanting to be trusted without fear of being written off as unworthy of trust simply for being male. These issues, these inabilities, this lack of connection, trust, love; it is the root for a lot of men’s anger and feelings of being abandoned or betrayed, and the lack of anyone wanting to understand that makes us feel alone in that anger and pain. This is why many men turn to the redpill community, and end up getting worse by doing so.
Men, regardless whatever your beliefs are about patriarchy or masculinity and the like, while some would disagree, I am not asking you to sacrifice your masculinity nor am I attacking you for your belief on if the patriarchy exists or not; I am simply asking you this: Do you not feel the current culture and society’s functions greatly undermine natural and authentic feelings you have as a man and directs you to a certain emotional outcome? I say that because while we can debate about patriarchy, the fact of the matter is, it is historically clear that the western societal expectations of men and women, including how they are expected to feel emotionally, is hurting all of us and not allowing us understanding of each other, proper emotional release, connection, and healing. The dominant institutions do not want us to divert from the infighting and they do not want us to abandon a obvious Euro-originated cultural lifestyle that is not benefiting the majority of us. The influencers of these communities do not want us to stop fighting because our division either makes them money and/or gives them clout. We can not keep allowing this if we truly aim to improve ourselves, and that goes to all of us, not just men.
One of the best people I would immediately recommend as a man who covers men’s issues with a proper and balanced understanding is my comrade Ozymandias who has made such pieces as “The Left Hasn’t Failed Men”, “Men Are Their Own Worst Enemies”, “What Is A Man?”, “Why Men Cant Understand the Bear”, and “Are You Being Manipulated? The Truth Behind Controlled Opposition.” Ironically that last one goes into details about what I was saying earlier about wealthy and influential institutions who benefit and center on this manufactured gender divide.
Redpill & Manosphere Influencers
Now, we are going to address the other side of this conflict, which is the redpill and “manosphere” communities.
The redpill community does only one good thing right and it comes to male depression and suicide issues. Of the many things the redpill community covers, it often has great coverage and discussions on male depression, anxiety and suicide issues. However that is where the redpill community ceases as good thing as the community obsesses on their pain and women, specifically party women as a generalization of all women. This is where the redpill community becomes a place ripe for con-men and manipulators who prey on hurt men looking for answers, as we seen from people like the Tate brothers, Jordan Peterson, Stefan Molyneux, Iman Ghazi, Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Steven Crowder and way too many more to count; and it’s not just on the topic of relationships and men vs women lifestyles. The redpill community, also often called part of the manosphere is not unique in this regard however, as even hurt women looking for answers are often preyed upon by cons and manipulators in the liberal and radical liberal movement; that often discourage acknowledging pain men go through as I mentioned previously. This continued refusal to acknowledge each others struggles, pains and heal from them is what is fueling this never-ending division that is being profited by “influencers” for each community.
I want to call out to the redpill community members who might stumble upon this article and encourage you to understand something. Does it not upset you the kind of content you see seems to be almost always the same or similar? Has any of the advice you got ever improve you? Has any of the content you consumed from these influencers ever make you happier or more fulfilled? Has anything you've done made your life better? If the answer to those questions are no, then logically speaking it makes no sense to keep listening to what clearly isn’t working, right? This is the issue with, honestly, a lot of the content coming from these influencers in the redpill community. A lot of it is ragebait, it is suppose to make you angry, because there is no stronger influence than anger; and content that plays with your emotions are a psychological warfare tactic to manipulate a population into a specific outcome. Influencers specifically go after a certain demographic of women and clip content into ragebait short video and long-form videos, because they know whatever sounds the most outlandish or will anger their base the most, will boost their views and engagement so they can make more money off ad revenue or store sales.
It’s the same thing with many of these dropshippers and wealth gurus who make videos telling you how to make money “passively” or quickly, because they prey on desperate people who makes them money off traffic on their content. It should be obvious when people like Matt Walsh, Steven Crowder, Jordan Peterson, Stefan Molyneux and Ben Shapiro who never originally spoke on relationships or the current dating culture, but instead got popular off “defeating liberals” suddenly switch gears when other redpillers spoke on relationships and dating culture. You was preyed upon by people wanting to use your anger for popularity and wealth. Anger isn’t the way to healing or finding solutions, at least not in most cases. Discussion and understanding has always healed most pains.
Old European Traditionalism vs Islamic Traditionalism vs New Age “Traditionalism”:
I wouldn’t have included this originally if it wasn’t related.
Traditionalism itself is not automatically bad, same with masculinity, even if some of my own would strongly disagree, what matters is the kind of traditionalism and if it is evolving or stagnant. As we see from the ever evolving cultural and societal life Asia who, while maintaining some traditions, always advance and add further upon them. Basically the concept of “if it isn’t broken, no need to fix it” with “if we can provably advance it, why not try?”
Euro-Traditionalism vs The Status Quo Shift
Traditionalism is, while sharing many similarities, not the same universally across different communities. I have mentioned this before in some online discussions, but traditionalism varies in some degrees across different communities be them religious, ethnic, cultural, etc. From what I’ve found, European traditionalism seems the be the most harmful as it creates the expectations that was mentioned earlier regarding feelings, relationships, social norms and the like that harm both men and women, while creating a cultural and systemic structure where men benefit off of women’s struggles. This doesn’t mean all men do benefit in this regard, but more often than not, they do in one way or another even if it is small. While some of these old Euro-traditional values have been abandoned in Europe itself, the US still has much of the old Euro-values, even if we have changed them to a degree and are slowly doing away with them. However the conclusion to doing away with old Euro-traditional values is no better as the conclusion is pushed by liberal institutions; and that is liberal secularism, which doesn’t take into account community conditions or livelihoods of groups of people. In fact not only does it demand the undoing of traditional values as a whole, it demands full submission to the status quo by engaging every member of a family to the work industry and limiting the time parents need with their children in order to create a healthy family unit. And this kind of status quo mixed into this secular liberalism has been enforced on the country rather they wanted it or not through the high inflation, price gouging, buying up of homes by large landlord agencies who can price as they wish, and cultural stigma in propaganda to undermine traditional beliefs. So while Euro-originated traditionalism is harmful, the conclusion by those in charge is just as harmful to our population.
Islamic Traditionalism
I am biased as a Muslim, but I see the best traditional balance with the authentic Islamic lifestyle in accordance to the Quran and aHadiths. However some other cultures have a good traditionally balanced lifestyles such as those of South America, East Asia, the Caribbeans, etc.
To further explain, Islamic traditions can be broken down in the following ways:
Collectivism: Islamic societies focus heavily on community welfare and collective responsibilities to each other. From checking on each other to mosques taking care of children when families have duties to take care of, collectivism is a way of life to build the society faster and stronger.
Religion Intertwined into Every Function of Life: Islam is more than a belief in God, it is a way of life to stay as closely in the favor of God as humanly possible. Belief in Allah, in monotheism, in above everything to a Muslim. Be this their family, themselves, their desires, their job, etc. It is enforced in their surroundings by both the way they structure their society to always remind them that Allah is watching their actions, but also by themselves through Sharia practice of how to eat, bathe, greet people, enter their homes, go to bed, etc.
Use of Science to Understand God’s World: European institutions New Age Christianity has made this false narrative that to be religious is to be anti-science. The Muslims deny this, as much of Muslim history is the use of science to understand the universe and the world created by God. This is why a lot of planets, stars, and constellations are named after Arabic names and Muslim discoverers. It is also why a lot of inventions and creations come from Muslims like the steam engine, gauze pads, chemistry, soap, chess, surgical instruments, astronomy, gunpowder, numerals, gardens, mathematical calligraphy, algebra, geometry, and many more. The Islamic world, especially during the Islamic Golden Age, made massive contributions to art, science, math, furniture, food, and so much more than today’s way of life globally would be severely lacking if it never happened. While much of this desire in Muslims was lost over time, much of it still strongly exists in Muslims today, especially a deep love in art, foods, medical, entrepreneurship, education, and philosophy.
Healthy, Balanced, Religious and Fair Family Unit: When it comes to Muslims and creating a family, the first thing that is stressed is both married couple are firmly religious, Islam being the preferred faith. The wife and husband having rights over one another, expectations and duties to each other to make their household and lives easier and shared struggles. For this we look to the Quran and way the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) treated his wives. Authentic and healthy Islamic families share chores, care for the children together, and prioritize each others happiness. While it is often encouraged for the man to be the breadwinner, one of the many rights of Muslim women is not only she can work a job and even have her own business, but there is no shame in her earning more than her husband, because the aim isn’t in who earns more as a sign of superiority, it is taking care of the family as to please God; this is because caring for the family is a duty as a Muslim and neglecting them will make God punish you. This is not just in regards to the family alone, as even mistreating your wife or husband will even anger God. As it is known in Muslim society, not only for oppressed people but those in families as well “fear the prayer of the oppressed, for there is no barrier between it and God!” -Bukhari; Muslim.
Behavioral Characteristics: Muslims will say it often, that Islam is perfect but Muslims aren’t, however we do attempt to embody as many of the Islamic moral conduct and ethics that is expected of us as believers. Such as honesty, compassion, mercy, morality, courage, humility, and justice. To be true when we speak even against ourselves, to be kind and merciful to all even those who wrong us, to be brave even if we are scared because sometimes we must, to be just and fair in all situations as to please God and surrender our own interests, and to suppress or control our arrogance to acknowledge God’s control to correct our ego. This even goes further with our duty to uphold modesty (both men and women) as to please Allah, keep from being objectified, control our ego, and avoid tempting others. Patience so that we learn to never rush, act wildly without consideration, create discipline and self-control. Having gratitude to remember someone is always in a worse state and being thankful for our current blessings. Leadership to take charge when need be and always encourage what is good within your community. Compassion for the environment and understanding that the land we live is ours to care for. Trustworthiness in both business and your community as to build strong bonds with those around you. Most importantly, remembrance in Allah through recitation, thoughts, actions and prayer.
Consultation to Solutions: Muslims practice Shura, also called consultation, as there is a strong belief in discussions and consensus to solve issues instead of solving alone, which goes back to the focus of collectivism.
New Age American “Traditionalism”
With the redpill community beginning to talk about relationships and dating culture when the Tate brothers began to grow popular, a new age “traditionalism” begins to grow among, mostly, American men. The reason I put this concept of “traditionalism” in quotation marks is because this is not traditionalism, and in fact it is further increasing the stigma of traditionalism. It is a more perverse form of Euro-traditional values which increases the double standard. One of the most glaring and troublesome examples of this is the want for a “traditional woman” while not being traditional yourself. You can’t expect to build a traditional lifestyle or family if you can’t even uphold that life, as traditional values are not simply applicable to one specific individual, it is a shared collective way of life for the group in that environment, specific community, or family unit. Another is the demand for more harsher control over women such as demand for a return back to an age of no voting for women, women being subservient to every order of a man, and stuck permanently within the house. Traditionalism isn’t suppose to be a rule book to power of one sex over the other, but a way of life that shares equal responsibilities and balance of specific rights and powers in regards to one’s stronger characteristics and mercy for each others struggles. Not to mention balance of order and open to effective changes within a given society.
Sexual Assault Against Women & Men:
There is very few things that are utterly despicable and downright evil, sexual assault and rape is one of these things.
Statistics for Women
The rate of which sexual assault happens against women is insanely high, with a total of 81% of women in the US having experienced some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lives. That being roughly 1 in 5 women. 1 in 3 between 11 to 17 years old.
Statistics for Men & Stigma on Reporting
Men, while not experiencing sexual assault or harassment at nearly the rate of women, do however experience a high rate with many not reporting the experience due to stigma or their environment downplaying their assault. 43% of men across the US have reported being sexually harassed or assaulted in their lives. 1 in 4 men experienced sexual assault between the ages 11 to 17 years old.
People, especially liberals, seem to think the stigma for men reporting their assault doesn’t exist; even when there is plenty of evidence to counter that argument. A video went viral on TikTok earlier this month by Ceros Whaley where he expresses not only was he assaulted twice in his life, but was repeatedly ignored by all his friends, family, teachers, etc. Sexual assault of men is not only a contributing factor to their mental health issues, but additionally the stigma and environmental conditioning to accept it by both men and women is another issue as well. Men who suffer sexual assault are told by those around them either they are lucky, they should have liked it, or either they are handsome or the person who assaulted them is attractive so it makes sense. This is a common socialization of men when it comes to advances or sexual acts even if they didn’t initiate them. Completely downplaying the fact the man was violated, largely because the stigma that exists is one that men are highly sexual creatures so therefore they are expected to like it. That a man can’t be victimized (even if they themselves believe that). This kind of disgusting stigma is upheld across the whole of the society and needs to be educated out of the minds of people, and the institutions pushing this narrative needs backlash against them. NSVRC covers that topic very well in fact when they put out a piece on male socialization, stigma, and sexual assault.
Pride Month vs Men’s Mental Health Month:
There seems to be a growing trend as of late which is this idea that people who mention men’s mental health month are only mentioning it in order to ignore or counter pride month. This is honestly a silly notion. As mentioned earlier, many financial and cultural factors are contributing to a spike in mental health issues; and of course as mental health issues skyrocket, especially with men, many will naturally look for and mention the month designated for their struggles. It is also important to note that men’s mental health month is older than pride month and will inevitably get attention due to its older age and recognition. With men’s mental health month being established by the Federal Government in 1994. LGBT+ organizations in 1994 originally wanted to establish October as LGBT History Month, but in 1999 the Federal Government established it in June instead. There is no reason for why both these months can’t be celebrated by their given communities without one trying to undermine the other.
There is in fact no reason why people of the LGBT+ community shouldn’t be involved in men’s mental health month given many statistics to back up why. Not only do 17% of LGBT+ people experience homeless, most often due to family exile & excommunication, but they are also 4x as likely to experience violence and sexual assault. Just because you may disagree with some people’s way of life doesn’t mean you should attack or harm them. Assaulting or making regular people homeless is despicable behavior, it is anti-human behavior, and I oppose all anti-human behavior. Even if I myself may have my criticism to how LGBT+ people are expected to express themselves in the west vs other parts of the world where LGBT+ people don’t want to express themselves in such a way, I still don’t believe in attacking them.
How Do We Solve This Issue?:
Given everything we have talked about, we can conclude that the majority of our issues either stem from a harmful culture we’ve been Pavlov dogged into upholding, preyed upon by those trying to benefit off our pain through culture war and identity politics, or struggling under a financial system that has been systemically taking more and more from our lives. We have been divided and waged war upon by those at the top who want us to turn our anger on ourselves instead of on them.
In short: Our lives have became harder while we have been propagandized to live the way major key players tell us to, because it hurts us and created divisive culture in order to keep us from logically waging a class war as a united and healing masses.
Where Do We Go From Here
It is hard to detail a path forward with so many obstacles in the way. If it isn’t the issue of a lack of people with a correct frame of mind to educate or talk about these issues in a balanced way, the issue of our hostile environment and economy being ever present, there is the limitations and co-opted nature of established psychology. What do I mean? Established psychology, such as that of universities, medical institutions, and other agencies are subservient to the status quo. Established psychology, while they do tackle the issues of depression, anxiety, and sexual assault decently; when the financial or war related depression and stress comes up, they simply help people adapt to current injustices. This is why we need to replace established psychology with liberation psychology, which refuse complicity with socially and morally unjust practices. This issue of established psychology is why finding a proper therapist is so difficult. However if you do seek after therapy, there is some points to consider:
Do Your Due Diligence: Study into the institutions and the people of choice. Make sure they don’t have a terrible rating. Don’t take the first person they try to force you with without knowing about the person.
Pick an Experienced Therapist: Experience often outweighs paper certificates. You want someone who clearly knows how to talk to people with struggles and how to deal with those issues with a much more rational and analytical mind than someone who is new to the field and most likely never seen a wide array of people from different struggles and communities.
Pills Are Not a Universal Fix All: As I stated earlier, there is people with extreme issues who clearly need medications, I will never downplay that. However it must be mentioned that the pharmaceutical industry is the biggest influence on every medical field, including therapy and psychology. In fact the National Library of Medicine even wrote on the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. I add this section to specifically say, if your therapist is quick to prescribe taking medications instead of providing feedback and natural solutions, especially if your main mental health issues is not extreme illnesses like BPD, BD, etc. then they might have a benefit in promoting medications, or might be unable to help your issues without them. Your therapist should not be trying to promote pills to you within the first few sessions unless a consensus of medical experts agree.
If you are overwhelmed by the idea of therapy, which is understandable, or want to try this while going to therapy, there is also the option of building a strong community of close friends to turn to when times get difficult. A old practice we in America have abandoned, but are slowly rectifying it, is having a strong friend group of good/best friends to turn to when times get hard. To lean on each other and seek therapeutic assistance, however it needs to be stressed the topic of reciprocity. There is a joke of the “therapist friend” in every friend group, however this isn’t to make one person that, but everyone must be that. To come to the group when anytime someone is struggling an overwhelming issue. If we can’t build each other up, we will take without realizing. This isn’t to replace professional therapy, but it is to make existing and functioning slightly easier with having someone who can assist in more clear mindedness.
Besides from therapy, to help with mental health issues is focusing on things that can boost your health and avoid what will cause increased struggles. This means taking care of your hygiene, working out, eating a cleaner diet, exploring hobbies, enjoying nature and trips more frequently. All of these boost self-worth, dopamine and serotonin, and self-esteem. As opposed to drug use, alcohol, isolation, working depressing jobs with low pay, associating with negative and harmful people. This environmental and lifestyle shift is often the hardest for many, especially since much of this would require discipline against bad stimulants, avoiding or cutting ties with intentionally harmful people, initially forcing oneself to take care of their body, making drastic changes to their economic employment and daily routines, etc. However you need to prioritize your health; physical, mental and spiritual, in order to feel better. Especially since you have limited time on this planet, and you deserve to enjoy it.
Besides from what we can do for ourselves to make us feel better, what we also need to understand if we haven’t by now, is that much of our struggles comes if not directly from capitalism, those who uphold and benefit from capitalism. We need to organize together, understand our struggles and find solutions and common ground, and organize against this assault on our mental health and physical health.
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