In recent years we have seen a rise in “mental health awareness.” The idea behind mental health awareness is exactly what it seems—once we start to bring attention to all the various mental disorders, the less stigma there will be around them, which in turn will lead to the people that may have a mental health disorder to feel more comfortable with said disorder. Seems straightforward enough, right? Then why is mental health plummeting for the one generation that has “destigmatized” it? Why is mental health worse even though people are supposed to be more comfortable with it?
According to nimh.nih.gov, people ages 18-25 are leading the pack with a 36.2% prevalence of mental illness. 26-49-year-olds have a slightly lower prevalence of mental illness which stands at 29.4%. Among the people in the 50 and older category, the prevalence of mental illness is at 13.9%. That is less than half of the people in the former categories. Strangely, the generation that spends all its time talking about mental health and “normalizing” it is doing worse mental health-wise, while the generation who spent the majority of their lives with mental illness “stigmatized” is faring better. Why are people doing worse now that all the stigma is removed?
The more we talk about something, or the more we “normalize it,” the more normal it becomes. The more normal something becomes, the more we will see it in society. Our country is doing worse than ever before on the topic of mental health, even though we cannot stop talking about it and it is safe to say that there is no stigma surrounding it anymore. If it is not the stigma around mental health that is the problem, what is?
The normalization of mental illness is part of the problem. Some things are better left stigmatized. Now that does not mean that we should not help those who are genuinely struggling, but we also cannot be turning disorders into collectible items or Pokémon where the desire is to “catch them all.” What is the solution?
There are many different answers to that question but here is what I think: instead of going through each day thinking about our feelings, and how we feel about our feelings and how we feel about how we feel about our feelings, and so on, we need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Your feelings will not remain static. You cannot stay happy forever, nor will you stay sad forever. That is impossible. It is guaranteed that some days will be harder than others. That’s just a part of life. Now, I am not saying this to discredit or invalidate your feelings but your feelings do not define you, your actions do. In 100 years when we are all dead and our grandchildren are remembering us, they will not remember us for our “anxiety” or “depression,” at least they should not, nor should you want them to. They will remember us solely for our actions. If anyone ever achieves anything great enough to be remembered by the world, they will be remembered for what they did, not what they felt. Another thing to keep in mind: we also cannot expect to wait until we are happy to start living. Life does not wait until you are happy. That is why the pursuit of happiness should not be your end goal. Spoiler alert: if your life’s goal is to be happy, you are playing the game wrong. Instead of the pursuit of happiness, search for the pursuit of purpose. You might say, “Well, it’s my purpose to be happy,” but that is a false statement and is not true for anyone. I cannot tell you what your purpose is but I can say that once finding that becomes your goal instead of chasing the quick and easy dopamine rush of fleeting pleasure, you will find true happiness.