We’re winning
That’s the good news. The somewhat, I guess, grounding news? It’s that the battle will go on for a very long time indeed.
The battle is the one against mental health stigma. Or the battle FOR openness and vulnerability and honest conversations on the subject of mental health.
That’s the subject on this week’s podcast, which features no guests in the main segment of the show, just me sharing what’s on my mind for a while. The occasion is that today is the first day of Mental Health Awareness Month, which always sneaks up on me even though I’ve been talking about mental health into microphones for years and years by this point. Maybe it’s because I talk about it so much that I forget there’s a month dedicated to it. As I say on this week’s episode, it’s a bit like having Gravity Awareness Month, something I don’t really need any more awareness of because I’m surrounded by gravity and its effects all the time.
On the show, I discuss how we as a society have proven to be capable of taking on big challenges and how we can alter our thinking and behavior on those subjects. Back in the 1970s, public parks looked like ass from all the litter all over the place. And finally we got sick of walking among garbage when we wanted to get outside to enjoy nature. So what did we do? We made up an owl. Named Woodsy. Who has evolved over the years.
From traditional Woodsy:
To Lurking In The Woods Intent On Harm Woodsy:
To Just Published His Alarming Manifesto Woodsy:
To New Cartoon Weirdly Sexy Woodsy:
And I laugh at Woodsy (although not out loud to the scary Woodsies) but my point is that an effort was made. Ad agencies were hired, PSAs were distributed, consciousness was raised, and behavior changed. Littering got better. Not eliminated but the situation improved. We did similar things with smoking and drunk driving. Didn’t solve the problems entirely but through collective action, we changed our way of thinking.
I think we’re doing the same thing now with mental health. When something happens like Senator John Fetterman checking in for in-patient mental health treatment, some jerks will tear him down or attack him for partisan political reasons. But that goes against what is now the prevailing acceptable response: mental illness is real and can happen to anyone so let us be humane instead of stigmatizing and let us praise someone for getting some damn help.
Anyway, I have a lot to say on this whole subject, clearly, so go ahead and listen to the show to hear more about it all. And about Stevie Wonder.
Meanwhile in worse news about society, LGBTQ youth are in rough shape because they’re being attacked on all sides
There’s a new study out from The Trevor Project about how the political climate and its attendant overt homophobia is affecting our young people. And the answer is: it’s affecting them in a very strongly negative way.
Nearly one in three LGBTQ young people surveyed said their mental health was poor most of the time or always due to legislation and policies targeting the LGBTQ community in states across the U.S. Nearly two in three LGBTQ young people said that "hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQ people at school (also known as 'Don't Say Gay') made their mental health a lot worse."
The nonprofit organization —which has been working since 1998 "to end suicide among LGBTQ young people"— reported that 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Yet, 56% who wanted help couldn't find it, the survey found, indicating that access to mental health care is extremely limited for LGBTQ youth.
When we fail our young people, we fail the world. And when we deny the truth about LGBTQ people, we are attacking them. And it fucking sucks.
Don’t mess with Texas because Texas is already SEVERELY messed up
The Lone Star State tops the list (bottoms the list?) as the worst in the union for mental health, according to Forbes.
Lowlights!:
With the highest percentage of adults with any mental illness who are uninsured (21.5%), Texas is the worst state for mental health care.
Texas is home to the highest percentage of adults with a cognitive disability who could not see a doctor due to cost (40.65%), and the highest percentage of youth who had a major depressive episode in the past year and did not receive treatment (73.1%).
Mississippi and Alabama were close on the stigmatized heels of Texas.
Meanwhile, if you do have mental health issues, you really want to be living in Vermont, which came in as 51st (D.C. included). And it’s not just because Ben & Jerry’s flows from kitchen faucets for free. Massachusetts and Rhode Island were pretty good as well, at least by comparison. My state of Minnesota came in at 43rd worst or 8th best, so I’ll go ahead and be crazy here.
Zak Williams, Robin Williams’ son, speaks out on mental health
In Fortune:
“After my dad died by suicide, I was diagnosed with complex PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and was doing super unhealthy things like self medicating, using alcohol,” Williams said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health Conference in Marina Del Rey, Calif. Wednesday. “I realized something had to change.”
Williams focused his attention on mental health advocacy after managing his own symptoms with amino acid therapy along with other mindfulness, breathwork, and self-care practices. As one in five people experience a mental health problem in the U.S., and rates of anxiety and depression have risen in recent years with startling statistics among the nation’s youth, Williams felt compelled to share his own healing process with others.
He’s now running a mental health startup.