A large part of the adult population in the Western World are mad, mental, bonkers, have lost their marbles and are totally insane. Well, that's at least according to the World Health Organisation.
A recent WHO report stated one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. And there's a very high chance that you, the reader, are completely off your rocker.
Mental Health is the buzzphrase of our times. It's on the TV, the radio and all over the internet. The UK's Prime Minister goes on TV to state how big the problem is and just how very seriously she takes it and we're assured the government are working extremely hard to tackle it. However, the rhetoric never amounts to anything, as anyone seeking genuine help will attest.
Help is hard to come by. Doctors prescribe pills to subdue the wrong thoughts, but nothing else. No long term solutions, just keep taking the pills.
Hundreds of thousands of adults are medicated in this way and now, more worryingly, are many children.
So it's vital to talk about it. It's permanently Mentalspeng Awareness Day or Tell Facebacon Your Neurologicalwankfuck Week.
It's even become quite fashionable, with regular treats from celebrities telling of their darkest moments and how they nearly didn't get that huge Hollywood deal because they woke up feeling sad and unhappy one winter morning.
If you're a fruit-loop tell everyone. It will be ok...
Tell them about the time you were going to drive your car off a cliff and ended up in hospital after a particularly long conversation with The Samaritans. Great stuff!
Tell them about the regular, uncontrollable urges to slash yourself with a Stanley knife or any other sharp object close to hand. Awesome!
Tell them about how you smash yourself repeatedly in the head, sometimes with a heavy object, as you can no longer deal with the stress and frustration of being disempowered by situations completely out of your control. Cool!
Tell them how you feel trapped by an increasingly expensive housing market and how you have zero financial security. Brilliant!
Or maybe just tell them that sometimes you can't get out of bed and you don't know why or that you panic uncontrollably for no reason. Skills!
Tell the world!
We're so understanding of mental health issues these days, just raise more awareness and everything will be fine, we're here for you man/woman! (and yes, we might need to sell this information on the the appropriate persons, future employers, insurance companies or government agencies etc.).
After all, we're all good people right? Tell everyone you're mad and they'll understand. They'll think of the time you were a dick and they'll say "Ahh, poor sod, you know he's a mental don't you".
Well frankly no. The world is full of cunts and whilst the people close to you will be sympathetic, as far as wider society goes, you'll be marked, your position compromised and your word will not be trusted. I mean who knows, maybe you're delusional, perhaps you're about to rampage through town wielding a knife or driving your car into a crowded supermarket...
But hold up.... One in every four of us is mental?! Is that really the case? Let's think about this for a second. When did 25% of the population become a massive neurospeng?
This wasn't the case 30 years ago, a quarter of the population weren't mad. There wasn't the vast array of medications available these days; Prozac, Sertraline, Citralopram, Promethazine, Venlafaxine, Amiltryptaline, to name a few (there are many, many more).
It's clear that a lot of people aren't feeling right but how come the suicide rates are higher now than they were 30 years ago? If we're all so much more aware and well medicated, surely rates would be going down?
Perhaps you were diagnosed as a mental because you responded negatively to events happening around you?
Maybe you're working increasingly longer hours for less money. Perhaps the terms of your work changed drastically and you no longer feel secure. Maybe you lost jobs because of funding cut backs.
Perhaps you're in despair because your friend took their own life when their job was cut in an austerity drive.
Suicide is the most horrible thing which ever way you look at it. You strip a person of their purpose and they react with the most extreme act of self violence, causing an unbelievable amount of emotional distress for those left to pick up the pieces... And so we say, "Ahh but you understand, they were mad... They were fucking mental, they lost control of their senses, it such a terrible shame but they were mad you know".
Bullshit.
The term Mental Health removes all responsibility from the structures creating an environment where people are deemed no longer of value or viable human beings.
But maybe you were angry because you were told by politicians that you need to live within your means, whilst those in large financial institutions increased their wealth exponentially? The world economy crashed in 2008 and there's no money. Eh? The governments of printed more and more money, but there's no money for you, you cunt.
Perhaps it was packed aboard a spaceship and is now hurtling towards Mars! (mad people tend to think like this, after all it couldn't be that the money was stolen).
Maybe you got angry with the blatant corruption from those in public life? Politicians shout loudly that they're for the people but will pocket pay rises. I've experienced local council officials bullying members of the public, making veiled threats about funding of their work place.
And this can be done with total with total impunity, as the structures put in place to control such actions cover up any wrong doing. You see the powerful can not and will not be challenged. There is no pathway to justice.
When the fire at Grenfell happened, it was clear for all to see that the housing association, council and big business were at fault, but no, blame was heaped on the lone fire officer who had the awful task of managing two lowly fire engines in London's biggest fire since World War II.
At the time my local Member of Parliament response was "the flats were refurbished to a very high standard". We shouldn't lay blame at those in power, we cannot have any fault with the establishment. I bet that poor fire officer was a mental too...
When discussing mental health we're not talking about a brain injury or unfortunate illness. There's extreme difficulty coping with the world but it's not madness and it's not a delusion.
It's a natural reaction to bullshit. We're are completely surrounded by bullshit, on the internet bullshit, on the TV bullshit, in the work place bullshit, from our leaders bullshit etc. etc. The world is running on massive excess levels of bullshit.
And this is the natural emotional response to bullshit.
Mental Health is used to invalidate the anger, freeing the powerful from responsibility and laying blame squarely at the individuals door. In the meantime, piece by piece, the powerful steal everything we've ever owned.
So next time someone says to you raise awareness about mental health, maybe tell them to fuck off.
Either that or tell them you're flying to the Moon to have tea with Kim Jong Un and Barney The Dinosaur.
Fuck mental health.
*Image used without permission of Barney The Dinosaur.