Another one of those fucking days. We all have them.
After a long slog at the desk, me and my fair lady decided to unwind rather erotically and then settle down to a homecooked meal. Afterwards, we flicked on a Louis Theroux documentary – the one where he visits the “hospital” for those who were acquitted from violent crimes by reason of insanity. I believe that’s the correct description anyway.
One of the inmates/patients, quite early on, when faced with the realisation that he could be moving out of the hospital and into his own pad (subject to various checks and balances) and probed by his thoughts on this by his warden/psychologist he states, “it sounds lonely.” There’s a lot of truth in this.
It’s sad and at the same time, for me, it raises serious questions about what being mentally indicates. This isn’t to question what mental illness is (although that is an interesting question). No, the real question is what it can show us – is there something which particular types of mental illness can show or illuminate for us?
There’s something about the shaking that the patients exhibit which is… disturbing. It looks wrong and unnatural. Its natural movements set into motion by drugs and chemical – done to limit and shape. Limit and shape. Limit and shape. There are things which are cut down, pulled apart, analysed, destroyed, rebuilt and monitored. The shaking is the price you pay.
Unnaturalness sticks together. It pales against the beauty of nature, and its artificialness means that it is one. Nature contains multitudes and manifolds; the unnatural is shaped by man and this becomes the overwhelming element within it. It can be broken up into anything else. So, what else can we see as unnatural, shaped by man, and can be identified as problematic by those with mental health issues, particularly depression and even schizophrenia?
One thing, something also noticeable in the documentary, is that work/wage slavery is also something unnatural. Living in your one bed flat sure is “lonely”. Standing at a grill in McDonalds is “alienating”. Recording your admin productivity each hour is “humiliating”.
The modern workplace is just a mental health stamina arena. Let’s see how you get on – who can put up with the most shit? Those who handle their mental health well, get ahead. Those who don’t, are losers. They are justified on facing further humiliation, losing their jobs, and ultimately suffering. They didn’t try hard enough. There is no assistance for mental health issues, and that’s because the modern world does see it as weakness. They really do. They don’t care if you suffer, as long as you keep going at a level that doesn’t harm their bottom line.
Until we shake ourselves from the fetters of the Romanesque style gladiatorial battle with one another and see that the reason we hold ourselves to an impossible, inhuman, unnatural standard is because the human world does, we won’t ever get over it. It’s not to say that we won’t develop more mental health issues, far from it, it will get worse. But those of us who suffer mental health issues can see how really crazy the world is and we’re not wrong, although yes, maybe still not all there.
We need a mental health manifesto. If capitalism really does want to continue, it will need to accommodate natural humanity. We get stressed and need a break – we can’t just choose to “use” our stress for higher sales figures or KPI hitting. No, we need to take a fucking break and learn from those who’ve already seen through the eye of the needle and bear witness to their lives falling down around them. I doubt we’ll listen and nothing will change.
The Disinterested Philosopher Gets By 