I remember when we used to say that in High School - she's gone mental. When we said it my friends and I meant that the person did something that we would not have done, like put relish on a hot dog, or yelled at a teacher. Ah the good old days of innoccence before going mental meant taking an AK47 to a random group of strangers....
I am not sure there were good old days...
I think more things were swept under the table and more people just dealt with their depression, or schizophrenia, or anger on their own. In good and bad ways. Many street people probably could have avoided it with a good bout of therapy and pharmaceuticals. Depressed people were institutionalized right up to the 1970's. And let's not forget how almost every housewife in North America was prescribed valium in order to help deal with their husband during the 60's.
So I do not think much has changed except that it is out in the open, although still stigmatized. But here is the thing, I am not sure I have ever met a sane person. Or, if I have, I have not stayed in touch past the initial contact. It is not that there is anything wrong with sanity - it is simply that most of us cannot relate.
And that is because like it or not, most of us have gone mental. Perhaps we always were. ADHD, Depression, Social Anxiety, PTSD, Mania, Bipolar, Phobias, to name my own basket list of issues, grin, plague almost everyone. I defy you to go look up characteristics of mental illness and not find anything in common with any of them.
Again, I am not saying the world has changed, although it is extremely stressful and quick moving these days. I am not saying school or society did it to us, although there is certainly a lot that is unhealthy in our systems these days. I am not blaming our parents, although many people come from broken and violent pasts these days. Nor am I blaming the damn mercury in our booster shots.
What I am saying is that everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, is struggling with mental illness right now, this very moment. Someone you know is going to consider killing themselves today. This week someone you have talked to will come to the breaking point and either drink themselves into a stupor or punch something or someone. More than half the people you encounter today are probably taking prescription drugs just to cope. Another third more probably self medicate with anything from cocaine to chocolate.
So for God's sake - stop being so hard on everyone. Stop thinking you are so perfect. Stop pretending life is easy. Admit how hard it is. Share your pain. Be real in your living. If we all helped each... things would be different.
