I was linked to this article on another forum and had not seen anyone post about it here. I'm not going to add much commentary because I would really like people to read it and think about it for themselves.
The Title speaks volumes "The Crisis as a Problem of and for Mental Health". It begins with some serious food for thought:
The problem of mental health today is not a matter of people getting depressed because of a flawed system that can be tweaked slightly in order to fix things. The social system itself is completely insane. Awareness of reality and, accordingly, of one’s essential needs, is the bedrock of mental health. So, too, are thinking realistically about our social circumstances and being able to function, personally and collectively, with autonomy, solidarity and enjoyment. Yet, these capacities tend to fail when a ruling minority imposes psychopathic and addictive ways of functioning which create a society that is well on the way to self-destruction because it attacks the great majority of its own members.
Do we see ourselves in this? I know I do. The author goes on to discuss the various reasons for the global economic crash including this:
The economic, political and ideological responses to the crisis are posited on continuation of everything that caused it in the first place. The pundits now dictating economic policy are the same and so are the parties in power. There has been no self-criticism and no thought of any change of direction. In neoliberal Europe (once called the Europe of peoples), the economic measures being imposed are not aimed at reactivating a productive economy in the citizens’ interests but at debt recovery, feeding the banks and the plundering of countries. The lies and arrogance of the powers-that-be are markedly psychopathic. For them, human beings have no value unless it is to further enrich the rich or as a source of ever-cheaper labour.
Of course the same methods were used here as well as in Europe and currently our "leaders" are trying to impose more austerity at every turn. We are not being represented, only the ruling class is represented. We have no value other than that which they can wring out of our aching backs and calloused hands. Why wouldn't we be depressed? I had a patron talking about how tired of working he was. He is in his mid 30's and said to me yesterday: "Is this all there is to life? I sleep, I eat, I work and that's it? There has to be more". Indeed, we would all hope for more than this but it is the reality for the majority of us. Our standard of living is declining with our wages and yet we see record profits for the job creators. Here is another gem from the article:
This crisis is also a crisis of identity – of personal and collective alienation – if we understand by “identity” the way we see ourselves, our elected leaders and our fellow citizens. It has laid bare the failure of the “democratic” system of representation in which blatantly corrupt ruling parties operate by means of secretive decisions, make the citizens pay for their crimes and folly and limit them to voting (or not voting) every four years, thus ensuring that they will abstain from any meaningful participation in matters that affect everyone.
Again, do we see ourselves here? I'm going to leave you with that and I truly hope you take the time to read the entire article. It goes on to discuss Big Pharma's solution to our market made depression and the staggering numbers of us that are drugged to numbness just to cope with the reality they have created for us. If you are not depressed, you aren't paying attention.