Michael Mitchell: Archive

This is why I don't like the term "mental health".

It's a valid term, and we certainly need to learn to respect the way our minds function as we do the way our bodies function, but they don't function the same way, and this whole "wellness" and "mindfulness" bullshit in psychological "diseases" and psychotropic drugs has lead most people to think of mental health the same way they think of physical health, as if it's beyond their control, like a broken leg or cancer, because they can't keep the full context because of bad philosophy, which is actually bad for your mental health.

Our reactions to all of these "issues" are usually far worse for us than the "issues" themselves, like allergies, except we're in full control of our minds and actually giving up that control because of bad psychology.

If your leg is broke, it won't work until it's healed. If your mind is "broke" -- inconsistent with reality, if you believe a lot of bullshit -- it'll keep working even if your clinically depressed. You can't just sit on your ass until everything magically gets better. You have to conform to reality. You have to change the way you think. You have to change what you value. You have to "heal" yourself. Negative emotions are indications you're in peril, no different than a cut or bruise from a fall is indicating you need to learn to fucking walk better, to pay closer attention to what you're doing, and that you've been thinking and doing shit wrong for a very long time, so long you've lost track of all the short-term states of sadness which led to the feeling eventually not going away, as if you just kept walking on a broken leg until you forgot it was broken and now you're just miserable all the time and don't know why.

If you think of the psychological the same way you think of the physical, then you believe you're helpless, especially with mind-altering drugs, to manage your emotions, and, unfortunately, the term "mental health", due to this misunderstanding of its meaning, is actually causing mental unhealthiness.