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The Power Of Existentialism
Mental well-being reconsidered
I have heard it said that the private nature of our mental landscapes — and the illnesses that might affect them — can make our inner lives a lonely place. Perhaps concerned that our mental states cannot be objectively measured, as blood pressure and cholesterol can, we consider our minds to be closed-off places.
I applaud those who suggest the alternative approach, to think of mental illness as part of the regular wear and tear of life, just like physical illness. You wouldn’t keep quiet about a broken arm now, would you?
These considerations make the positive case for treating mental health as a facet of everyday life. If conversations about mental health are more open, then the disorders that are apparent all around us may seem more like practical problems that simply need fixing. And there is something refreshing in seeing mental health in this matter-of-fact light.
But I also want to make a case for keeping mental health in a realm of its own. To efface the difference between mental and physical health too far is to diminish one very salient factor of our inner lives: that it occurs in the sphere of subjective consciousness, and this can be a very powerful thing.
