'Let's talk' about the normalization of mental illness
I was having a chat with a friend and fellow steemian @perceptualflaws on mental illness and the causes of depression. Oh btw you should check out his work. Guy makes the most well written and ascetically eye pleasing posts. Makes my posts look like walked in dog shit. But I digress. Our conversation reminded me of an issue I wanted to brush on.
The normalization of mental illness.
There's no doubt there has been a significant increase in mental illness in our society. But this is by no means is a natural phenomenon that is occurring.
"In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians experiences a mental health or addiction problem."
"By the time Canadians reach 40 years of age, 1 in 2 have – or have had – a mental illness." - source
This is a direct result of our piss poor lifestyles taking their toll. Poisonous food, daily exposure to a countless amount of chemicals in our products, EMF (Electromagnetic frequency) radiation, exposure to toxic heavy metals cough cough chemtrails cough, the increased amount of electronic device usage. The list could go on.
Don't get me wrong, some of it is of no fault of those afflicted. The issue I have here is the complacency or acceptance of our current trend. In fact, it often becomes a pissing contest of who is more fucked in the head than the other.
So what's going on here? Is it that we are getting used to mental illness as just a part of our lives Or are we being pushed into that perception of normality . I'm talking about pushers like the Bell Canada's "Let's talk" campaign who every year encourages people to talk about their mental issues in the open. Offering to donate 0.05¢ 'to research' for every long distance call, text and social media post using the hashtag "BellLetsTalk"
Now to be perfectly honest, I don't think it's entirely bad to motivate people to discuss their mental problems (with others in private). Just because something has a deeper agenda attached to it, it doesn't mean it can't also have a positive impact as well. But let's be clear this is a very subtle way of manipulating the public perception.
It's like "Look how fucked up everyone is, just like you!" "You're just normal, the new normal"
No! Fuck no! It's not normal, it's not ok and fuck off bell! I'm not telling you about my mental issues! I want to fix the issues, clean people's diets and help them to recognize the things that are poisoning them daily.
Another point I'd like to make. Why are we trusting Bell with such private information? Don't think you're not getting tagged and profiled, every time you devulge personal information of a sensitive matter about yourself and slapping their hashtag on it?
It's a mistake to think that companies like Bell are motivated by anything other than money and power. That's all big corporations care about.
Oh! They just care soooo much! I feel so warm and fuzzy insides after watching that.
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/health/bell-employees-stressed-by-sales-targets-1.4418876
If bell doesn't care about their own employees' mental health. What leads us to believe they care about Canadians mental health. They see us as nothing more than walking pockets of cash and this is clearly nothing more than a PR move that has gone on for far too long.
Reminds me a lot of the 'pink ribbon' breast cancer foundation. They claim to help to spread awareness, but it's not awareness, it's conditioning us to see cancer as 'normal'. If they wanted to help they wouldn' be aligning themselves with companies such as Pepsi and KFC and numerous other companies whos products are proliferators of cancer. If they cared about breast cancer victims, they would be speaking out against these companies.
"Researchers are already warning us that all of this binge-watching and Instagramming is making us unhappier. People who binge watch television are more likely to have anxiety and depression (though the former doesn’t necessarily cause the latter). Even the light from these devices' screens could be making it harder to sleep.
Maybe no one wants to talk about it because you make it seem so normal – even though we are spending increasing amounts of time on screens instead of exercising or connecting to people, pets and the environment in real life."
source
look what I'm trying to say here is that normalizing illness of any kind is not the way we need to go. By playing into these corporations bullshit PR stunts, we are only hurting ourselves. We shouldn't be asking who? But why! Why are we so sick? I know why and I think you probably know too.
If Bell really cared about the mental health of its customers and everyone else. Their campaign would be "Bell's Let's talk why"
Thanks for reading. Let's me know what your thoughts are and leave a comment below.
Another great post brother! Please keep Steemin!
Thank man! Will do! lol
Yeah bell lets talk day is garbage. Lets make light of this serious affliction! Oh you're unwell? Me too, right on!
I was put on meds when I was 13. I've been on at least a dozen, to combat my depression, anxiety, and obsessive traits. Now, when I try to go off of them, I cry uncontrollably every day. My body cannot handle not having the mood altering chemicals any more.
I was just a kid, I didn't need to be diagnosed and medicated but I was.
All these people put on meds are having their brains permanently fucked.
And you're right, it's the lifestyle and the food and overall mindset that needs to be focused on, coping skills and reconnecting with the earth needs to be taught!
Not normalization and just accepting that your miserable and cant change it.
They love to target the youth, we're very vulnerable at that stage. Especially with all the nasty toxins making everything worse. It's prime real estate for drug companies to create life time customers.
So they have to find ways to make it seem normal, to keep people from wondering why?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Big corporations only care about profit, nothing else.
Preying on those who are suffering from mental illness and are vulnerable is an acceptable business model to these scumbags.
Nice work dude.
Yes exactly! It's all about the bottom line. People don't realize the affect they are causing when they go along with these agendas.
I always appreciate if people are courageous enough writing about (their own) mental health issues. Thank you for your effort and openness.
Even if I agree a lot with you, I am still that kind of person, who keeps more silent about sharing his point of view about this topic.
Glad I could resteem this on the 6th day. I agree with all your posts. The same things are happening with movies to a lesser degree. Heroism tends to get underplayed. Characters are supposed to be awesome for having flaws. People are measured for their wounds rather than the achievements of them. I mean just compare Original Spiderman trilogy and the new piece of garbage. There is nothing inspiring in the new one. Each of the original trilogy deeply pumped me and inspired me.
At that time I wanted to be Spiderman. Now spiderman wants to be some zucker that even I don't want to be.
Thank you and yes, Hollywood is definitely playing a role in this. I did think about adding that point in but I am so out of the loop with movies and tv these days. However I've noticed that they are reversing the gender roles in movies these days. The females are the heros and the men are betas lol
Thanks for the resteem. Much appreciated :)
Nothing is bad in itself. The problem is these things having an agenda. Female Dr. Who would be a nice idea 10 years ago.Now it's just SJW hijack. There is also the spreading of fake claims like Black Panther being the first black superhero movie. Some movies do diversity right and organically like Pacific Rim. But most of them are just garbage.
Luckily Asian movies are getting better and better.
I agree. These things wouldn't bother me if it weren't for the fact they were done for a specific reason to push an agenda. That's what gets me.
Hey my friend, Thank you for the shout out, I really appreciate it. That said my friend, you're way to harsh on yourself .. you're work is great! and you're are an ever present and extremely important voice within our community. I have a great respect for all you do and the stands you're prepared to make, strength of character dude, respect!!
You've made some pertinant and valid points in this post my friend. I think there is a blurring of the lines between mental illness and life! Like when someone dies, the feeling you experience is grief! not depression!! It's entirey normal and equally an important process, it should not be medicated away.
The rollercoaster of life isn't always easy and sometimes it's hard. Yet somehow people have been conviced that feeling anything less than happy every single day of our lives is akin to depression. The thing that many seem to forget is that many of life's greatest wisdoms and lessons come cloaked as hardships and to deny them and hide from them is akin to stunting your development, your journey and lesson. Of course they want to broaden the definitions of depression because they want to sell us more drugs. When you think of it from a business perspective it makes perfect sense. I have seen this first hand and with several unconnected people that I know, they are handing out these medications like smarties and for extremely tenuous reasons. I will also add that true depression and bipolar is completely different to having a tough time or feeling down and I'm not denigrating the seriousness of the former.
Like we discussed the other day, before seeking medication both diet and exercise/walking should be closely looked at. People would amazed at the difference it can make. And yet we have companies like Mcdonalds sponsoring sports days! anyone see a conflict of interest there? Glad you got pepsi in there as well, didn't they use cells from aborted foetuses in their flavouring? Great post @venomnymous
Hey man, NOO PROBLEM! You played a part in the inspiration to write this post afterall. I know I'm not that bad, I just like to throw in a little self-deprecating humour from time to time lol. I appreciate your supportive words friend. Keeps me motivated to speak out more every time.
Yes! excellent point! indeed there are many instances in our lives when we are not at our best and it can be construed for something worse than it really is. Society has been conditioned to be rather melodramatic & weak-minded into believing they cannot fix themselves and are in need of intervention. Business has never been better for drug companies.
Precisely right, first steps, diet, exercise and move on from there. process of elimination.
Oh man these junk food companies like Mcdonalds and pepsi, could easily have 2,3 part posts written about there sketchy practices. I remember reading something about the fetus thing years ago, but I don't remember if it's true or not lol
Thanks for sharing your thoughts @perceptualflaws
great article. Raises some very salient points.
It's a very big issue to address which no one seems to be doing. Why is the discovery of mental illnesses increasing exponentially and why is there a parallel push to normalise them?
I've certainly come across the same with the normalisation of MAPs & #paedophilia as a mental illness (not a depraved fetish or sexual deviancy)
Oh yes, absolutely and i feel the two kind of bleed into each other, as they are both part of a greater agenda. To normalize depravity in our society.
There's only so far our moral sensibilities can be pushed before the pot boils over.
Just wait until the SHTF and all these drugged up zombies can't get their meds. Yikes.
I know! I really need to get my shit together and make a plan. wish i wasn't so broke lol
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