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Despite the unprecedented focus on mental health in the 21st century, with more funding, more professionals, and more available treatments, rates of mental illness continue to skyrocket. Why is this and why are we not stopping to consider how this is the case?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that mental health conditions affect 13% of the global population, with depression and anxiety being the most common. Despite more licensed professionals than ever, global depression and anxiety rates increased by 25% in 2020 alone and have remained high.
These facts show that on an individual and collective level we have never before seen the rates and severity of mental health conditions like we do now. What is of note is that these statistics only account for diagnosable mental health conditions and don’t include the exponential rates of chronic despair and dissatisfaction that people experience as an everyday normal.
Our growing sickness has reshaped the very definition of true mental well-being, reducing it to the absence of diagnosable mental illness. Yet, beyond the statistics lies a deeper crisis, mass states of disillusionment, apathy, dejection, hopelessness, and overwhelm that have become the norm and are accepted states of being in today’s world.
It is little wonder that the rates of absenteeism from work, interpersonal conflict and disharmony, substance use issues, domestic violence have never been higher or more impactful on society.
All of this leads to one question, what are we missing and what are the keys to lasting well-being? In this mental health sphere there are many articles that explore these questions and more.
