Written by Anindita | Reviewed By Neha Bhardwaj | Updated On September 28, 2022
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1. A relatively simpler reason for the increase can be health concerns of obesity or malnourishment, environmental hazards, sedentary lifestyle, and sunlight, sleep and social deprivation. Our physical health, which is influenced by hormonal changes, nutritional deficiencies and circadian rhythm impacts our mental wellbeing. Our bodies are still hardwired to function according to the hunter-gatherer man and has not evolved with industrialisation and other human developments of modern day living, resulting in a mismatch that makes us susceptible to illnesses.
2. Another important change is the fulfillment of basic needs such as food and shelter. Early humans survived as an interdependent community and the independent man is said to stand in opposition to this evolutionary tendency of seeking tribal connection. It has led to the rise of a ‘psychological man’ who thinks inwards.
In order to live in a civilised society, we have also curbed some of our ‘dark’ tendencies (such as aggression that helped us in procuring food). These are nevertheless a part of our being and discarding them brings us agony. The modern day jobs make us isolated, passive thinking humans, curtailing our personal freedom and emotions by measuring productivity based on output.
Another consequence of the fulfillment is what is described by Victor Frankl as the existential frustration. With basic needs met, we look for the meaning of our life and the purpose we serve in order to justify our existence. This creates a void which a man frantically attempts to fill. Common maladaptive behaviours such as depression and aggression result from misattributed meanings to our existence.
3. Lastly, the declining social capital and inequality, facilitated by institutions such as capitalism, meritocracy and technological evolutions directly challenge our basic assumptions about the world. Our just world hypothesis, which is in simple words, the idea that good happens to good people and bad things happen to those who deserve it, is confronted by the existing unequal power structures in the world. People who are beleived to have mental health illnesses may just have faced unfathomable trauma/discrimination in an intolerant society, forcing us to ponder whether the focus of treatment should be on the person or their socio-cultural context.
It is interesting to note that the society also develops standards of normal and abnormal behaviour based on psychosocial, ethical and legal standards, which are subject to gradual change. In the 19th century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable illness in women who displayed emotional distress, only to be later rejected and deemed sexist.
Hence, with social change, the idea of what is ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ or what constitutes mental illness and what doesn’t, is also likely to change.Till then, we can attempt to understand the many complexities of what causes mental illness and its rise, including the grey areas in diagnosis and stigmatisation of the people with mental health concerns.
Sources:
Eternalised. (2021, October 22). Mental Illness as a Crisis of Meaning in Modern Society [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb9tI9y57R8
Anindita (she/her) is an undergraduate-level psychology student from Delhi. Having deep regard for mental health, she aims to create a safe space for those who wish to be heard, and impact-oriented conversations about the current state of affairs pertaining to mental health sensitivity in India, with a special interest in intersectionality and Indian philosophy.
She is also an arm-chair tea critic, cat lover, and cinema enthusiast who wishes to run across a watercolor sky every chance she gets.
