From Mad in the UK: Watching the news in the last few weeks and hearing the discussions about the soaring numbers of people off work due to emotional distress, I noticed that politicians were referring to those people as “having mental health.” Something that I thought we were all supposed to have! We are told, often, that we all have physical health, and we all have mental health. This is repeated so frequently that it is an idea that most people think is a universal truth.
What do they mean when they say, “these people have mental health,” and that is why they are unable to work? My interpretation is that the problem lies in the term being inadequate for capturing the breadth of a person’s emotional world. Insufficient to include the diversity that exists across the planet. Too specifically orientated towards a clinical perspective of our very real emotional suffering.
Read the full article here.
