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Happiness as a practical pursuit
Is it an indication of personal cynicism, personal depressive tendencies, or SOCIETY’S PROBLEMS that I kind of reflexively roll my eyes when the subject of happiness comes up? Let’s blame society. It’s already such a fuck-up, society I mean, that why not dump more in its lap*.
I guess I’ve always seen happiness as a result and not an actionable thing and that made me more dubious. It’s like if a novelist set out to write A Very Sad Novel, it wouldn’t be as sad as someone writing a novel about relatable characters going through difficult times.
Dr. Laurie Santos is my guest this week on the Depresh Mode podcast.
I’m really glad that Laurie (she said I could call her Laurie and not just Dr. Santos) talked about the really alarming state of mental health among young people, which is what led to the creation of the class in the first place. “Right now, over 40% of college students report being too depressed to function most days,” Laurie says. “Over 60% report feeling overwhelmingly anxious.”
And this worrisome trend (it makes me anxious!) did not start with covid, it goes back to before that.
People who took her class, either at Yale or in the free-to-anyone online version, report feeling better. Not like all their problems are solved and they dance around all day and beam rainbows from their glazed eyes, but better. Still get sad, still get angry, still have a full range of emotions, but they’re solidly and incrementally better.
The most important part of Dr. Santos’s work and about happiness and this interview is not the Worry About Yourself video but it’s one that has stayed with me a while. I’ve watched it many times.
* Society, as far as I know, does not have an actual lap.
Things there is not and things there are
NOT:
Physical health
Mental health
Dana
ARE:
Health
Zuul
See, what I should do is get to the point of an article right away instead of loading it up with Ghostbusting.
Alas.
The Guardian has a valuable article on the false delineation between mental and physical health and argues that it slows the progress we could be making on health.
In practice, physical diseases are treated by physicians working for medical services, and mental illnesses are treated by psychiatrists or psychologists working for separately organised mental health services. These professional tribes follow divergent training and career paths: medics often specialise to focus exclusively on one bit of the body, while psychs treat mental illness without much consideration of the embodied brain that the mind depends on.
We live in a falsely divided world, which draws too hard a line – or makes a false distinction – between physical and mental health. The line is not now as severely institutionalised as when “lunatics” were exiled to remote asylums. But the distinction remains deeply entrenched despite being disadvantageous to patients on both sides of the divide.
988 proves very popular
The new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, launched this past summer, has been getting a ton of calls. And it makes sense. “988” is easier to remember than 1-800-273-8255. I have been giving out that second, longer number on shows since 2016 and I still had to look it up just now to put in here. And when you’re in a crisis, it’s not easy to go looking up a number, especially when you don’t have six years of Google Docs scripts like I do.
New data released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that in August – the first full month that 988 was operational — the Lifeline saw a 45% increase in overall volume of calls, texts and chats compared to August 2021.
The number of calls answered went up from 141,400 to 216,000 – a more than 50% increase, according to HHS officials. And texts answered went up by a whopping 1000% – from 3,400 in August, 2021, to 39,900 in August of this year. The number of chats on the Lifeline's website that were answered saw a 195% increase.
Is this bad news that so many people are in crisis?
No.
It’s good news that they’re getting help.
It’s like when deliberately dopey congresspeople bemoan all the drugs being seized at the border as evidence that Biden is a failure. No, it’s an indication that systems aimed at better public health are working.
Sadly, this is a different 988 and one of these will NOT be sent to your house to get your mind off your crisis:
Roy Wood seems to have some good habits going
My pal and sometimes collaborator Ana Marie Cox is offering a cool new class
Some information about the practice at the center of my workshop: Focused Expressive Writing. I have citations for the studies referred to over at my website, but you can just google them. There are some situations where writing like this isn't helpful but not many (mainly in cases of extreme trauma or if participants aren't comfortable writing). Give it a shot on your own! You don't have to take my class to benefit from it but I hope you'll consider joining me. I am providing scholarships. Just reach out to me via my website and let me know your situation. anamariecox.com/contact