The politics of mental health
"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain." - Robert Frost
My anxiety book, 2018
I had my first panic attack in a dimly lit Brooklyn basement bar when I was 26 years old. I was in my ‘phoenix rising from the ashes’ era, but the ashes were just starting to burn. It was one of the first times in a long time that I was truly honest with myself. My outward actions were finally aligning with my inside beliefs and it was overwhelming.
The panic came to me when there was a break in conversation. Out of nowhere, my face started to burn, the sound of words turned to noise, and I could feel the thick air pressing against my skin. I had the urge to run. So I did. I yelled to my friend, “I THINK I’M HAVING A PANIC ATTACK”, and we rushed up the stairs and into the street. The feeling quickly passed and a few days after, I attended an art workshop and processed my experience by making a zine about it (pictured above). It was a cathartic activity that helped me put words to feelings - my mind raced and my body reacted.
Fast forward six years and the importance of mental health is everywhere. What once was (and in some circles, still is) a taboo topic has now become the new mainstream. Concepts like triggers and boundaries are the zeitgeist and I do not think that is a coincidence. The normalization of mental health coincides with rising, incessant social distress that has taken place over the past ten years. With democracy teetering on the edge, I think we need to be louder about the direct correlation between policies and their impact on our mental health. For example, I recently learned from
‘s newsletter, Abortion Every Day, that South Carolina’s abortion ban “specifies that mental health cannot be considered a medical emergency even if a doctor diagnoses a woman as suicidal.” I was shocked. It is so particularly cruel and telling that abortion care is rarely framed as a mental health issue and it should be. Same goes for the collective trauma of racism, the climate disaster, mass shootings, poverty. We have a tight web of interconnected violence and the only solution that I can see is addressing the issues at their core. We need a collective, cultural shift that prioritizes well-being and connection for all.Recently, the Biden administration named the epidemic of loneliness and isolation as a public health issue. The evidence shows loneliness is causing health issues ranging from heart disease and stroke to suicide and depression. Loneliness and isolation is so bad for our health, it is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The report is interesting and I recommend reading it but what’s been eating at me is that they aren’t naming why we are so lonely and isolated. While the report contextualizes the epidemic by showing how people experiencing poverty, natural disasters, and community violence face a greater percentage of loneliness and isolation, the report does not reflect on the fact that our capitalist society literally profits off of our loneliness and isolation, therefore perpetuating it. They don’t even name the impact mass shootings have had on isolation and loneliness, nor the fact that isolation and loneliness can lead to mass shootings (at least for a certain population…which I address on my TikTok)
Their solution to the problem is The National Strategy to Advance Social Connection:
“Strengthen Social Infrastructure in Local Communities” - think volunteering, sports, religious groups, member associations, and policies like public transportation, housing, and education, libraries, parks, green spaces.
“Pro-connection public policies” - this urges policymakers to see the interconnection between various sectors of life.
“Public health and health care delivery systems to address social connection - investment in educating health care providers about the physical and mental benefits of social connection and the risks of disconnection”.
“Reform digital environments” - this one speaks for itself as we are all too familiar with the hell-scape that the internet can be.
“Deepening knowledge” - a plea to focus on a more comprehensive research agenda to fill in the gaps of the data.
“Culture of connection - “cultivate values of kindness, respect, service, and commitment to one another…the nation’s institutions should invest in demonstrating them.”
Honestly, I’m glad we live in a time that the nation's top doctor is naming a crisis that most cis-straight-men probably scoff at but it feels off…like they are treating the symptoms, not the cause. For example, the report says people in poverty are at great risk for isolation and loneliness for life, but they aren’t advocating for specific solutions to address poverty. Instead, they advocate for “pro-connection” and against policies that drive “disconnection”. Meanwhile, we live in a capitalist society that is built on isolation, individualism, and constant consumption.
Capitalism requires the myth of self-sufficiency so we become reliant on the market and industry, and not each other. The nuclear family is meant to keep their needs private and are not supposed to ask for help, which ultimately leaves the government off the hook for providing basic care like universal childcare, healthcare, or universal basic income. The environment is consistently destroyed to consistently produce products. Everyone is overworked and underpaid, and we spend most of our time working, thinking about work, or crying about it. Our very basic needs of food, shelter, and health are commodified and generate profit when we stumble. How is that for our mental health?
What I would like to see is a mental health index for policy, where mental health is prioritized in lawmaking rather than a side effect or completely disregarded. I appreciate that the administration supports community engagement but there are other places we should look to for leadership. If there is any one action you take from reading this newsletter, please let it be reading/listening to Mia Birdsong, the author of How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community. There are so many good point in this piece but I’ll leave you with this,
“Freedom and friendship have the same etymological root, which means beloved... [Historically, freedom] was about your people and that collectively, you were able to get the things that you needed for everyone to survive — food, shelter, water — and that children, disabled people, babies, and elders were cared for. This was how you were free — in the collective.”
I’m taking our cultural obsession with therapy as a good sign that mental health, connection, and overall well-being will become a political priority in the years to come. The good news is that we can start to make this a reality today, right where we are, by engaging with the community that surrounds us.
If you enjoyed this newsletter or learned something new, please forward to a friend! And follow me on TikTok for more content: AdrianaSchwarz_
Take care! <3333