How to Solve the World’s Mental Health Crisis – Part 2/3 What is the Cause?
Disclaimer: The entire content of this article is based on the opinions of the author. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this article is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your healthcare professional if you suffer from chronic stress, anxiety, or depression.
In 2023 people are the unhappiest they have ever been.
540 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety or depression: That’s about 10% of the world’s adult population. Over 30 % of people around the world reported feeling stressed, worried, and/or angry. 700 000 die of suicide each year.
Does this sound like a world where people are happy and enjoying life?
In this three-part series, we’ll take a look at the issue by answering the following questions:
- Why does the way we live make us anxious and depressed?
- Does the world really have a mental health crisis?
- If it did, how would we solve it?
Part 2: The World’s Mental Health Crisis
This is where my story and my search for happiness tie in with the larger issues that we face.
When I learned about all of the stress, worry, anxiety, and depression around the world, I understood that I wasn’t alone with my problem of being unhappy and that my experience in finding true happiness might help others.
Take a look at the figures in the infographic at the beginning of this article.
Do those numbers reflect a world where people are happy and healthy? Certainly doesn’t seem that way.
And as much as I dislike bringing this up, depression all too often leads to suicide (two suicides in my family including my brother, several attempts).
- More than 700 000 people all around the world die due to suicide every year.
- For every suicide, there are 20 times more people who attempt suicide (that’s 14 million people!)
- Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15–19 year-olds.
Not fun. Still, could be worse?
Oh, wait! There was a pandemic recently that might have had some negative effects on mental health?
The statistics above are a bit outdated. Do you think things are now better or worse?
I’m afraid we all know the answer.
Let’s just call it what it is: A crisis.
According to a recent Household Pulse Survey, conducted by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, 28.3% of American adults struggle with depression and/or anxiety, compared to 10.8 % in 2019. In addition, 14 million Americans have more serious mental illnesses, and 40 million Americans report substance use disorders.
In 2022, people in the U.S. are the unhappiest they’ve been in 50 years. Just 14% of U.S. adults say they’re very happy, and nearly 25 % experience no life enjoyment at all
Again, I use statistics from the U.S. because they are so readily available, but I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to assume things are any better elsewhere.
Check your home country’s statistics. I’m sure you’ll notice a similar trend, even though I hope that you don’t.
Awareness is the first step in fixing the problem
Seeing these numbers, could you maybe agree with me that there might be a small problem on our hands?
No, not a problem. A crisis. Let’s just call it what it is.
There are not enough practicing mental health professionals in the world to treat all of the people in need of help, and the number of anxious and/or depressed people seems to be on the rise every year.
As if some “higher power” wanted to confirm my message, just as I am about to publish this, I read in a newspaper that the psychotherapy services in Finland are in crisis. Meaning, that most of the therapists are unable to take on new clients, or at best, the available times are many months away.
No wonder we feel like s**t. Even if we needed and wanted help, there is none available.
But I wouldn’t be writing this if there wasn’t cause for optimism.
You can find help and there is always hope
Let's be optimistic
The cause for optimism is, that mental health disorders are treatable and curable.
You might have noticed at the bottom of the infographic the notion that anxiety and depression are treatable. And the earlier the intervention, the better the chances of healing.
We may not need thousands of new professionals to deal with everyone’s anxiety and depression. There are things we can do for ourselves.
There are practices that anyone can engage in to help deal with anxiety, depression, and chronic stress (which may eventually lead to anxiety or depression).
There are free resources as well as educational and inspirational blog posts on my website happyondemand.com, it’s a good place to start.
What causes the crisis?
With that in mind, I’m going to offer my take on the subject.
My point is: If “the society’s model of happiness” is not designed to make us happy, but to keep society’s gears running, what’s the “right way” to be happy?
Mind you, I am not a professional in human physiology or psychology. Everything I claim is based on my subjective experience.
But if I could beat depression and anxiety on my own, so can anyone else.
There are many contributing factors to mental health disorders, such as:
- Early childhood trauma
- Family history and genes in particular
- Changes in brain chemistry
- Pain
- Medical conditions, such as insomnia, stroke, and cancer
- Loneliness
- Urbanization i.e. not being in touch with nature
- Perceived (low) socioeconomic status
I’ve also written about the 4 individual risk factors for depression as identified by The World Happiness Report (2013, chapter 3: Mental Illness And Unhappiness):
- Low self-esteem
- Emotional immaturity
- Difficulties in communicating
- Medical illness, substance abuse
From my experience I can tell, that deep down at the core of the problem lies the belief that “what I am doing is not enough”, such as my brother experienced.
The biggest cause of unhappiness: “I am not enough”
Coming back to where we started, this sense of not being enough is caused by the feeling of inadequacy in trying to fulfill unrealistic expectations.
Expectations, mind you, that are not of your own making, but expectations that others have placed upon you: Society, parents, teachers, not to mention commercials, TV, the “perfect world” of social media, etc.
Not fitting into the “one-size-fits-all” mold that our society keeps pushing us through leads to the feeling of “not enough”. That in turn leads to stress, anxiety, sadness, and depression.
We don't know how to deal with any of our emotions
We don’t know how to deal with this feeling of “not enough”. We’ve never been told how to deal with any of our feelings in a healthy way (how to deal with emotions will be the next blog post after this 3-part series).
Our inability to understand, let alone control, or choose our emotions (yes, you can choose them) has led to a world where anxiety and depression cause major problems.
A horrifyingly high number of people are unable to work or even live a decent life because they are so depressed. They are forced to early retirement or worst case scenario, suicide.
We have forgotten, or just outright neglected, what’s important in life and pursue goals that are not fulfilling our inbuilt needs.
Instead of pursuing “the society’s model of happiness”, in which being happy means getting something, usually material wealth, we should turn our focus to fulfilling our inherent wants and needs first.
The “right way to live”: Fulfilling our natural needs
Here’s an example: If you have a pet, like a dog or a cat, you will do your best to take care of it. To take good care of a pet is to make sure its behavioral needs are met.
A dog, for example, has physiological needs: nutritious food that is natural for it to eat, water, shelter, an environment where it feels safe, etc.
A dog also has emotional (psychological) needs that are typical for its species: ample play time, plenty of exercises outdoors, and stimulation for its mind.
We, humans, are not that different.
This pyramid may look familiar to you. It’s Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. While not the definitive guide to human needs, it serves as a good roadmap to happiness.
Our basic, emotional, and spiritual needs must be met for us to live a happy life.
If our needs are not met, we may become sad, anxious, or depressed, just like a dog or a cat will become depressed if not able to express its natural behavior.
The way we live is not natural
When you think about it, we are living very unnaturally. Our modern way of living does very little, if nothing at all, to fulfill our physical and emotional (not to mention spiritual) needs.
And even if it does, these things are not guaranteed, we need to work hard for them. We need to earn them.
How many live in poverty, not being able to fulfill their most basic needs? What about our tribes and communities; we live in big cities but are lonelier than ever.
Are we getting recognition? What’s our relationship to God, the universe, the source (whatever you wish to call it)? Do we truly cultivate our social relationships or just hang around on social media platforms giving and receiving likes?
I’d say that the way we live is not natural to us and does not fulfill our inherent needs.
Deep inside we have a need to be seen and heard. We have a need to feel we belong. We have a need to express ourselves in a way that is unique to each of us. And just like any animal, we need food, shelter, exercise, a safe environment, and a healthy diet.
Most of all, We want our lives to have meaning and our future to make sense.
Our lives are guided by meaningless values
When we compare the need for a meaningful life to the fact that among the younger generations, 30 % feel their job is not very fulfilling or not at all fulfilling, and about 25 % feel their job is making no contribution to the world whatsoever, is it a surprise that we are seeing a decline in mental health?
This “not fulfilling our needs” has been studied by Johann Hari, who’s given a magnificent TED Talk on the subject.
Hari calls our modern values “junk values”.
Just like “junk food” is bad for our physical health, “junk values” are bad for our mental health.
For example, I think we can all agree that sugar in large quantities is very detrimental to our health, yet our diet is full of it.
Rethinking our model of happiness
The same can be said about “junk values”.
Fundamentally we are aware that they are not good for our mental well-being, but our lives are dominated by these values. Values like the love of money. Money is no more or less than a medium of exchange, but we raise it on a pedestal and worship it as the ultimate goal in life.
(Sidenote: Having a lot of money can be one of your goals. We need money in this world to buy things that fulfill our basic physiological needs. I am merely suggesting that you shouldn’t tie your happiness to getting money. Instead, try to start with being happy first, and this will enable you to work towards your materialistic goals more efficiently.)
It’s time we flip our model of happiness back the right way up.
That means:
Placing physical, emotional, and spiritual happiness first — material possessions second, and starting to live according to meaningful values and our natural behavior.
I have some suggestions for doing just that in the final part of this series of blog posts.
Conclusion
The way we live is not aligned with our basic human needs.
We are told a story of how to be successful and happy, but if we can’t fit our lives and values within the frames of that story, we will feel that we are not enough.
This feeling of “I am not enough” will cause sadness, anger, hopelessness, and all sorts of mental health problems.
If we want to solve this crisis, we must start honoring our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and live in a way that is natural to us.
Disclaimer
The entire contents of this blog are based upon the opinions of the author. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this blog is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care professional before trying any of the products or methods based on this content. I cannot guarantee that you will be free of stress, anxiety or depression, or that you will be happy. I simply want to share with you what I have discovered during my twenty years of seeking happiness and what has worked for me may not work for you.
