LuckyAutumn
Member
- Sep 16, 2023
- 37
Do you ever wonder why everyone is talking about mental health now? Why people are claiming that we "need to destigmatize mental health" but then punish people who speak out about it? Why massive corporations and governments are claiming that they "care" about your mental health? Why mental "hospitals" just shove pills down your throat and don't actually try to make you feel better?
The mental health phenomenon is a relatively recent one, compared to the rest of human history. The western concept of mental conditions as an illness actually arose from the late 17th century, In which the concept of humanity was defined by rationality. Human rights were accordingly justified by one's "ability to reason", granting institutions of power the legal autonomy to take away those rights by dehumanizing someone on the basis that they were unreasonable. But there needed to be a cause for this unreasonability to explain why people previously considered rational were now being confined, so the concept of the mind as a component of health (and the justification of one's human rights) became the status quo.
With the social acceptance of dehumanizing the mentally unhealthy, people considered undesirable by society began to be labelled as such, typically due to their unwillingness/incapacity for socialization or productivity. By labelling people as mentally unhealthy, not only have they been stripped of their rights, but of their entire personhood. What once used to be nervously biting fingernails or bouncing one's leg became a symptom of that label, caused not by the person, but by their illness. These categorizations of behavior became the reinforcing factor of their condition, as well as the explanation of their illness.
Under modern society, we are valued not by our existence, but by our productivity. What once was our humanity became clouded by notions of reason, and reason became determined by social value. You're more valuable to society working a dead end job or becoming impoverished by medical bills. After all, it's easier to make money off of someone who's still alive.
The mental health phenomenon is a relatively recent one, compared to the rest of human history. The western concept of mental conditions as an illness actually arose from the late 17th century, In which the concept of humanity was defined by rationality. Human rights were accordingly justified by one's "ability to reason", granting institutions of power the legal autonomy to take away those rights by dehumanizing someone on the basis that they were unreasonable. But there needed to be a cause for this unreasonability to explain why people previously considered rational were now being confined, so the concept of the mind as a component of health (and the justification of one's human rights) became the status quo.
With the social acceptance of dehumanizing the mentally unhealthy, people considered undesirable by society began to be labelled as such, typically due to their unwillingness/incapacity for socialization or productivity. By labelling people as mentally unhealthy, not only have they been stripped of their rights, but of their entire personhood. What once used to be nervously biting fingernails or bouncing one's leg became a symptom of that label, caused not by the person, but by their illness. These categorizations of behavior became the reinforcing factor of their condition, as well as the explanation of their illness.
Under modern society, we are valued not by our existence, but by our productivity. What once was our humanity became clouded by notions of reason, and reason became determined by social value. You're more valuable to society working a dead end job or becoming impoverished by medical bills. After all, it's easier to make money off of someone who's still alive.
